Life From All Sides
by Gippal the Pimp
Summary: Just when things start looking up for Rikku, everything starts coming undone. Popularity strikes, a murderer is running the streets, and Rikku is being kept away from her crush in a must cruel way RikkuGippal COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Yeah, so, my updater thing hates me, it messed up and LFAS ended up being deleted. I am reloading it, though... and i'm gonna edit it some, too, take out some crap, put in some different stuff, you know...

-Gippal the Pimp

**Life From All Sides**

Chapter 01

_Cid's Girl_

A beeping sound awoke a young, blonde girl from her slumber. She felt around her desktop. Finally, her hand found it's destination and flung it across the room.

Rikku's alarm clock hit the wall with an audible smack. Several smacks actually. One emerald eye opened and saw her clock lying in pieces on the floor. She slowly lifted her head off the pillow and flung her legs over the bedside. She trudged over to the scattered alarm clock pieces of the alarm clock and kicked one.

The sound of someone's fist hitting wood fell over the room. It came from the door. Rikku screamed "WHAT?"

"Rikku! Come for breakfast!"

"One minute!" Rikku sighed. She didn't care for breakfast. She threw together an outfit randomly chosen form her drawers. She didn't have time for her daily routine so she headed downstairs for breakfast, knowing that her father was already suspicious as to why she took so long in the morning.

When Rikku entered the kitchen, a look of shock came over Cid's face. "What are you doing down here on time?"

Rikku put a look of innocence on her face. "What are you talking about? I may be a little late sometimes but I'm not usually THAT behind."

"...Riiighhhttt. NOT." Rikku's brother...err...Brother sat eating a large bowl of Count Chocula, his favourite cereal.

"I didn't ask YOUR opinion, you Count Chocula-eating... FRUIT."

"Well, SORRY Miss Perfect."

"I'm sorry; I don't talk to retards."

"Well, YA BETTER START!"

Rikku paused for a minute knowing that Brother did not understand what he had just said. "Right... well get your retarded self ready for school.I don't want to be late again waiting for you." Now that Brother had his liscence, she was always chronically late for class.

"Rikku get my Celsius ready. I don't want to wait for the engine to warm." complained Brother.

"Oh you lazy bum. Do it yourself for once, and stop stuffing your face!" said Rikku in disgust. She stomped from the house to warm the Celsius like she did every morning. She jumped into the front seat and turned the keys in the ignition.

A bout of laughter shook her thoughts away from her imbecile brother. She knew who it was. A group of young men sat in a car across the street. She looked at the driver, a man a bit older than her with spiky blonde hair, a smirk planted firmly on his face. His brother sat next to him, a boy with simalar spiked hair, but of a different colour, a chestnut brown. He had the same bue eyes as his brother, Cloud, onlythere was something softer in his; less cold. Sora was turned his seat, speaking with his three friends in the back. Nooj, Baralai and...him.

Rikku's knees went weak at the sight of him: His blonde, spiked hair, glowing green eyes... Well, eye, really. She wasn't really sure how he had lost it.. But she assumed that it must have been painful. His smile was so vibrant it lit up the car and...HER WORLD.

It was odd to see him smiling. Really smiling. Most of the time, all you could see on his face- or any of his friends' for that matter- was a smirk... Or some other's girls' face. Apparently, Nooj must have said something violently hilarious for everyone in the car appeared to be smiling, including Cloud himself. For a brief second, Rikku was sure he looked at her. Her heart began to race. What should she do? She didn't really need to worry. He wasn't looking at her. He was paying attention to whatever it was Nooj was saying...

Rikku was dreaming of her and Gippal, the dream man, together, when Brother jumped into the seat beside her, blabbing away, as usual. A sigh came from Rikku. As Brother was pulling out, Sora and Cloud's younger sister, Yuna, came running from the house. She streaked past the blue corvette the boys were sitting in, much to Sora and Cloud's disgust, and leaped in the backseat of the Celsius. Yuna, Sora, Cloud, and Ryo, Sora's identical twin brother, were Rikku's cousins. However, unlike Rikku, Sora, Cloud and Ryo were high up on the "popularity totem pole" as some called it. It pained them that Yuna would hang out with someone of a lesser social status than them, which is why they pretended NOT to be Yuna's brothers...And Rikku's cousins.

"Hey, Rikku!" Yuna said, happy as ever, even if she was forced to get a ride aside from her own siblings again. They were nice to Yuna, extremely nice...in the sense that they didn't make fun of her at school. But that was about as far as it went outside their own home.

"Hey, Yunie!" Rikku and Yuna began to converse of many things, their conversation only ending when they pulled into the school's parkinglot... The Gateway to Hell, as they called it.

As Rikku approached the school, two silver-haired boys walked by, their noses stuck up high in the air. The most conceited boys in school. Rikku gave them the evil eye. She hated them with a passion- their whole family, except their sister, Paine. Paine also had silver hair, short and slightly spiky. Paine never really talked much, but the expression on her face said plenty. Rikku spent lots of time pining over the fact that she shared the same name as one of Paine's two arrogant older brothers. Except that, his name was spelled differently, with only one 'k'. Riku was the middle child in the family, a year younger than Sephiroth, a good friend of Cloud's. It was odd that they were such good friends in the sense that Riku and Sora were also best friends.

Rikku walked slowly down the hall, looking at the students. She could hear the snickering of many people in the hallway. Typical. To the people in this school, including her own family, Rikku was a big loser, as were Yuna and the rest of their friends. Rikku looked at her feet as she walked, avoiding the eyes of her peers. Unfortunately, looking down was not her best option- A cruel voice made Rikku snap her head up.

"Are your feet really that captivating, Rikku?" Tifa, Lulu, and Aeris stood in front of Rikku and Yuna, sneering at them. "I'm afraid your going to have your attention off your feet long enough to acknowledge the fact that you've violated our school's dress code. Garbage isn't to be worn."

Yuna, apparently feeling she all of a sudden had a backbone, said "Neither are your work uniforms... As a matter of fact your job isn't allowed in this school... or this state. It would be wise of you to wear something else. You're not here to make a sale, you're here to be educated. Although, you're obviously not learning anything... Prostitution is strongly advised against here."

Everyone in the hallway that had stopped to watch immediately fell silent. It was rare that anyone ever mustered up the courage to stand up to Tifa and her friends. However, not being one to back down, Lulu retorted "Then, I guess you should pay more attention in class." Shooting many glares at Yuna and Rikku, they walked off, noses in the air. Yuna and Rikku trudged off to class, prepared for yet another day of misery.

Rikku walked slowly in the hallways, the whispering around her getting to be less whispering than plain out talking after the...prostitute incident. When they reached Yuna's classroom, they parted and Rikku headed off to her own clasroom. After she had been walking for about two minutes, Tidus zoomed past, with a look of utmost fear on his face. He's in a real hurry to get to class... Rikku looked at the clock. He wasn't late at all! Just being weird. As usual. She continued to walk, extra slowly, to her class. Not too soon after Tidus had run past, Baralai also shot past her and down the hallway. What weirdos! She looked at the clock again. This time, however, it appeared she WAS going to be late for class. Following suit, Rikku broke out into a run until she made it to her destination.

Rikku entered the classroom. She felt slightly dumbfounded at what Yuna said in the hall. How Yuna even brought herself to say what she did confused Rikku. Yuna never spoke to anyone like that. She guessed Yuna was just telling things the way they were.

Rikku sat down. She sat in the last empty seat; The one beside Seymour. Seymour was an oddball, yet he managed to obtain a higher social status than Rikku. He had long blue hair, two large strands stuck out as if someone tied pigtails in his hair and added hair gel. Rikku always wondered what gel he used to keep his hair so still... cement maybe?

She looked in front of her, blonde hair spiked upward. Her dream boy sat directly infront of her. She had the urge to reach out and touch his hair, and was about to do so, when the teacher, Sir Auron, as everyone called him, walked in the room and began to speak. As he talked, Rikku kept notes of everything said. When Sir Auron announced there would be a test on what he had just taught, a series of groans and whispers buzzed through the class. Rikku was clearly the only one who had taken notes. She began to laugh at her classmates in her head for their stupididty, when the one sitting in front of her turned.

"Hey, Cid's girl, mind if I borrow your notes? I'm in no position to fail another of Sir Auron's tests."


	2. Chapter 2

**LOL** THIS IS REALLY BAD. BUT I'M RELOADING IT CAUSE IT'S FUNNY.**  
**

**Life From All Sides**

_Chapter 02_

One-Eyed Wonder

"GIPPAL! YOU LAZY-HEAD! WAKE UP!" Gippal's sister, Nhadala, began pounding on his bedroom door, trying to wake him up. He lazily rolled over and glanced at the clock. 7:27. Late. REALLY LATE. Gippal leaped out of bed and felt on the bed stand for his eye patch, bringing back memories of how he had lost it...

_A screech of tires, a hand tightening around the shifting gear, and his mother, screaming. The vehicle came to a halt, and the shifting gear broke, a sudden pain came to him; the metal rod sticking into his eye. His mother was leaning over the steering wheel, motionless._

Gippal looked up at the mirror. His patch was still in hand. His face was smooth until it came to the place where his other eye was supposed to be. It was like a crater, a huge red crater. He had no use for the eyelashes, but they were there, just like his eye should be…and his mother. He covered up the hole in his face with the cloth, his other eye as green as the sea. He threw on his normal clothes…his pimp clothes. Or so Wakka called them. One day, when he had been talking with Tifa, Sora had walked up, uttered "Ah, a prostitute and her pimp," and walked off. Wakka had overhead and had come up with the idea that they both dressed the part, behind Tifa's back, of course.

Gippal began to move about more frantically. Cloud wouldn't wait for him; It just wasn't in his nature. Maybe, if Sora was the one driving, if it was his car, they would wait up. But, it wasn't. And he knew he had to hurry. He dashed down the stairs and out the house, only pausing to pick up his books. He had only ever been left behind once before, but didn't want that to happen again. He couldn't understand why Cloud was so mean… Well, maybe that was stretching the truth a bit. Rude was perhaps a better word. Better yet… He wondered why Cloud didn't like ANYONE. Besides his few friends, that was. And maybe Sora, Ryo, and Yuna. But that was beside the point. They were his siblings. It was like a RULE. Cloud's patience went no further than that.

He rushed down the street to where they met every morning- at Sora and Cloud's. Seeing that the car was still in the driveway, he allowed himself to relax and slow to a walk. He saw that for once he was NOT the last one there. And just who was missing was even more of a surprise. It was not like Baralai to be late. He jogged up to the car and was about to ask about his friends' absence when a shout came. "Hey! WAIT UP!"

Baralai ran up to the car, panting from the run he had just made. They both hopped in he car, and at the same time, the sound of a door slamming came from across the street. Rikku, the daughter of Cid Highwind, stormed out of the house and into "the Celsius" as he'd heard Brother call it. She revved up the engine. He almost wanted to watch her because she seemed angry over something, but decided he probably shouldn't stare. He turned his attention back to whatever Baralai was complaining about.

"Aw man, sorry I'm late. I had this huge zit! Is it visible! CAN YOU SEE IT!" Baralai freaked. This must have been one HUGE ZIT!

"Yeah. It's like a crater. Like mountain sized! Mount Everest to be exact! God, what did you do to your face?" said Sora. " Get some cover up man, or like a mask or something. Your gonna' scare the little children."

" More like…scare everyone" said Nooj, his face implanted with a smirk. He looked into the back seat to his friends laughing uncontrollably.

Gippal laughed so hard. He looked up. The blonde girl across the road was staring at him. Her eyes green like the sea. He got a happy vibe from her. He turned his head at his friends. So what if he kind of liked her? Well, his friends would ditch him. Cloud looked back at Gippal. "What were you staring at?" he asked.

Just as Cloud was asking this, the front door to their house opened and Yuna rushed out , racing past the blue corvette and jumping into the Celsius. Gippal could tell by the look on Cloud's face that he found this to be completely appalling. He hoped maybe that Cloud would change subjects and begin to rant about Yuna's "horrible taste in friends," their own cousins. Perhaps he had been right before; Cloud didn't like ANYONE. They were like, his COUSINS, and he was mean to them. Unfortunately for Gippal, this wasn't the first of Cloud's concerns today. "What were you staring at?" He repeated himself, obviously becoming more curious. Gippal couldn't think fast enough for a good excuse.

" What do you mean? I wasn't staring at anything." He said. Now the car was silent. He took a quick glance across the road again. The car was gone. He turned back to Cloud. Sora was staring over the back seat as well.

" You were to staring at something. I saw you. I saw you in the mirror. You were staring across the street. What was it?" Cloud was VERY suspicious. Gippal was thinking about what he should say. Should he just tell them? Maybe an excuse for why he was staring a Cid's Girl. OH! He should tell that he was going to give the bird to Brother. Yeah THAT'S IT!

"I was going to give Brother the bird. You know quickly. However, Cid's Girl was there. She would probably sick Yuna on us."

" Hmm...Good job. Well we should get going.. Don't want to be late. You never know what Sir Auron is going to teach today. Remember yesterday? God. Him and his stupid pop quizzes! I wasn't ready." Said Baralai. He looked frustrated. It was actually quite funny.

" You mean you weren't listening, am I right?" said Nooj.

Gippal stared at the passing cars. They did not meet his standards of what a 'cool' car would look like. Heaps of crap was more like it. Just scraps of metal. He was more of a 'corvette' kinda guy. That's why he enjoyed going with Cloud in his blue corvette. He would never get caught dead in that Mini van his dad owned. Mini vans were so…box like.

After about, 5 minutes of driving, they pulled into the school parking lot. As Cloud put the roof up, Sephiroth and Riku came up to them- Sephiroth was clearly frustrated by something as he began talking to Cloud in a hushed, aggravated voice. Gippal could hear the words 'Rikku' and 'your stupid little sister' so he assumed something had happened earlier. Since he wanted to make sure Sephiroth wouldn't be taking drastic measures for revenge, he decided to ask Riku about it.

"So…Riku…. What's Sephiroth so upset about? Something to do with Cid's Girl and Yuna?"

"Huh? Oh… They, uh, glared at him," Riku replied with a blank, emotionless face.

"They glared at him? And he freaked out like THAT?" Gippal was, needless to say, shocked.

"Yeah." Riku left it at that, and turned to continue talking with Sora.

They began to walk to the school, their place of 'learning'. They entered the hall and the first thing they saw was a familiar scene. Lulu, Aeris, and Tifa were standing in front of Yuna and Rikku, and teasing them over, well, something. He couldn't quite hear what. Although, he did catch the word 'prostitution' from Yuna. Tifa, Aeris, and Lulu still didn't know that Yuna was Cloud , Sora, and Ryo's little sister. But that was how they wanted it. He found it odd that Cloud wouldn't step in to defend her, because although he wasn't a nice person, she WAS his sister. Tifa, Lulu, and Aeris began walking towards him just as Sora and Riku entered the school and stood beside him.

"Hi Cloud!" said Aeris and clings to his arm. Cloud gave her a peck on the cheek. Tifa, now fuming hated the fact that Cloud was going out with Aeris, and not her… Gippal suppressed a laugh. He loved watching get so angry over nothing. Tifa, trying to pull Aeris away from Cloud, turned her head to Gippal in disgust.

"Can you believe that Yuna and Rikku? God, I hate them. They need to learn how to be more polite. They called US prostitutes." Tifa was fuming, only this time not over Cloud.

"Yeah that was pretty fun- I mean… RUDE!" said Baralai suppressing his laughter. He hated Tifa. Just like Cloud did… but Tifa didn't know this. Tifa didn't know a lot of things actually. She wasn't the brightest light in the school… more like the dimmest.

"Don't worry Tifa. I came back with a good retort. Yuna had no clue what she was saying… Don't worry about her. She's not popular or pretty like us!" said Lulu… obviously confident in herself.

" Actually…" started Tidus, " I object.. Yuna's a hottie!" This attracted the attention of many… especially Cloud and Sora, being her brothers they really didn't want Tidus hitting on her…

"What the hell did you just say?" said Cloud and Sora at the same time. Tifa was curious to why they got so upset over Yuna. But of course, she would rather be making fun of Tidus, or pulling Aeris off Cloud's arm, than worrying about Yuna.

Receiving many glares from Sora and Cloud, Tidus began to stutter "Well…. I, uh… You see…" Cloud continued to glare at Tidus, while Sora began to get a devilish glint in his eye that said 'I'm SO telling Yuna about this.' Apparently, Cloud's eye was too intense for Tidus, as he made up some random excuse about being late for class and ran off. Tifa, Lulu and Aeris, still having no clue what was going on, decided that they should probably head to their first class too. As they walked off, Lulu, being the smart one of the group, glanced over her shoulder, trying to figure out why Cloud and Sora had reacted in such a way.

Gippal continued to talk with Nooj and Baralai some when he realized that class really WAS about to start. Since the school was fairly large and his classroom was on the other side of the building, he took a shortcut. He managed to make it to class when there were still two seats left and the bell hadn't rung. However, the two leftover seats weren't exactly the best. He could iat right beside Seymour Shudder or diagonally across from Seymour.Shudder He decided the latter was the best. Soon after he sat down, Rikku entered the room and sat directly behind him. For a moment, he almost wished she had sat in front of him… For a moment, he even wished she had sat BESIDE him, so he could talk to her… But then, Sora and Cloud had totally freaked when Tidus referred to Yuna as 'a hottie.' Was everyone in their family like that? Brother didn't seem like someone you would want to cross. He was generally insane. And besides, he already hated Gippal for a small prank he had played on him last year. Well, kind of small. Anyway, the point was Brother HATED him. With a passion. Gippal was just beginning to drift into thoughts of Cloud freaking out if someone hit on his cousin, as well, but that probably wasn't right. He didn't seem to care about Rikku… But Yuna did. And if Yuna asked Cloud or Sora to do something, chances are they would, and if that happened, and he was hitting on Rikku, and… and… things were beginning to get too confusing. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Sir Auron's voice. "Well, it's a good thing you all pay attention in my class. There will be a test on what I've just taught." Gippal couldn't believe his ears. He bet Baralai, sitting in the front of the class couldn't either. Somehow, he had managed to get to class before Gippal WITHOUT taking the shortcut.

Then, he had an idea. Brother wouldn't… no.. COULDN'T get angry over him asking to borrow Rikku's notes. Yeah… An idea was forming. Oh, this was good. He turned in his seat.

"Hey, Cid's girl, mind if I borrow your notes? I'm in no position to fail another of Sir Auron's tests." His head was buzzing with thoughts. _Good job, Gippal. That was SO smooth._


	3. Chapter 3

**Life From All Sides**

Chapter 03

_Living A Dream: Part I_

Tidus sat in the back seat. He looked at the back of Sephiroth's head. His silver hair was shining.. ' man his hair makes him look… so old geezerish.' Tidus looked out the window. Looking at the back of Sephiroth's head was so odd…even for him. " Sephiroth what are we waiting for let's get going… Christmas isn't coming anytime soon." he ranted.

"We're waiting for Paine. Wakka should be able to get a ride with someone else… actually he should be driving his own car… he IS old enough. We don't need to wait for him… He's probably just fixing his hair… it's his fault if he misses his own ride." Sephiroth replied.

"It's his hair's fault. Remember, his brain is the size of a pea," said Shuyin… he did have a good point. He must have a brain the size of a pea if he's dating Lulu. Tidus was more of a Yuna kind of guy. Tidus shook his head to get rid of these thoughts; If Cloud and Sora found out, they would pummel his head into the ground. Tidus thought of how he was going to school in a Cadillac. It's silver was paint was like the colour of Sephiroth's hair.

"Um, tell me again why Paine is getting a ride with us?" asked Tidus. He really didn't like Paine much. She was too quiet and Tidus liked loud people, err… He just didn't like Paine. Although…. She did hang out with Yuna. Also Rikku did… hmmm…. Two easy targets to get to Yuna with… " Hey Shuyin how's Lenne getting to school today?" Lenne, was Yuna's best friend…and Shuyin, Tidus' twin's girlfriend. She was probably a better target to use to get to Yuna… She was practically a clone... Or maybe Yuna was a clone? Whatever. He didn't know. He just knew that he really liked Yuna. ' Maybe I could study her actions and see what Yuna likes… Maybe chocolate? Or maybe me? I like chocolate….'

"She's…not here today… she went to Zanarkand to a concert." Shuyin said, lost in thoughts of Lenne.

"So… She just skipped school?" Riku asked from the front seat.

"Yep," replied Shuyin, clearly too busy to speak properly and answer 'yes'.

"We should go to like… the Moonflow. I bet that she would be all ' this is so ROMANTIC'. Imagine it... she would be all over you. "said Tidus. ' and if you bring some friends…and bring us…which would mean me…and Yuna…My true love…err… God I hope no one in this car can read minds…'

"Um…Tidus? Are you okay? You look all…thinking-like…. It's not like you to think, man" Shuyin said, sounding slightly worried.

" Oh…no… not me… why I do that…think…I mean…Well, you know. About Yu- About…About…" The others were giving him suspicious 'what are you talking about Tidus' looks. "I…uh…Well…I wouldn't think about…anything really….Just…LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tidus was frustrated at himself. He was so stupid. He was extremely close to telling his secret. This would be bad. If Cloud ever did find out, he would send HIM to Zanarkand. Tidus pulled out his video camera and turned it towards the window. Cloud's blue corvette zoomed by. The Celsius was in front of it. Yuna sat in the back seat. Her eyes gleamed, they were two different colors, not that he could see them from that distance, but every time he saw them he would study them, so he pretty much knew their colour, one was a baby blue color while the other was green with a swirling pattern.

"Yo, we're at the school man, shouldn't you like, get out of the car?" said Riku tapping on the window. His face was twisted into a smile.

"Uh…yeah...just a minute." He tucked his video camera into his backpack. He jumped out of the car. He entered the school. He saw Baralai standing with the others. He strode over and stood beside him.

"Yo, dude pull out your camera and record this." Said Baralai nudging Tidus with his elbow. Tidus pulled out his camera and flicked it on. He zoomed in on the action, but instead of zooming in on Yuna's face he zoomed in on her butt. He hoped Cloud, Sora, or Ryo wouldn't find this, if they did he would be officially dead. He shut of his camera and put it away. He listened in on the conversation that started after Tifa, Lulu and Aeris came over. "Don't worry Tifa. I came back with a good retort. Yuna had no clue what she was saying… Don't worry about her. She's not popular or pretty like us!" said Lulu.

" Actually…" started Tidus, " I object.. Yuna's a hottie!" Good job Tidus… Good job… now what?

"What the hell did you just say?" said Cloud and Sora at the same time. They were furious. Tidus was scared. He was a scaredy-pants. Meaning sometimes, when he got too frightened, he wet himself. Well, at least he had when he was younger. Thankfully, that was not the case in this instance. Now, that would have been bad! Not only would Cloud and Sora hate him for liking Yuna, they would hate for being a baby…. And they would tell everyone, including his father, Jecht.

" Well, I, uh, AM LATE FOR CLASS!" he hadn't had the time to think for a better excuse but that one was the first thing to pop into his head. Leaving it at that, Tidus turned and ran down the hall. Cloud shouted and when Tidus turned his head he saw Cloud flipping him off. He didn't think anyone else had noticed. Tidus thought that he had seen Sora get an odd look in his eyes before he turned to run away for his survival. But he hoped he had been imagining things.

Tidus made it to class early and sat down. Thankfully, he didn't have the same first period class as Sora. However, Yuna WAS in this class. Although Tidus was a year one year older than her, they were in the class because she had been skipped ahead due to her genious-ness. Unfortunately, by the time Yuna filed into the class, the only empty seat was the one next to him. Sometimes, while she wasn't looking he would blow her a kiss, well, while none was looking really. Yuna had a low popularity level and Tidus was quite up there, even though that comment he made this morning would make his popularity level even lower.

Mr.Mika droned on forever about the useless information supplied in Social Studies. " You must know about your past to know about your future" He repeated every class. Tidus turned to his back-page shrine of Yuna. He imagined her in different outfits and would draw her. He would erase it afterwards, or during lunch he would go home, add it to his collection at the back of his closet, and light his candles. Every week he would burn one page as a sacrifice of love. He never burned his favorites… he would pray upon them! He knew it was obsessive, but, he couldn't help it. He looked over at her, her eyes twinkled. He loved how they were different colors. One is the gorgeous blue of the atmosphere high above their heads and it conflicted perfectly with the sea green of the other. In both of these elements he could float, high on the wings of love.

'whoa this is ridiculously corny… but Yuna is ridiculously beautiful.'He heard a snap on his desk. He looked up to see Mr.Mika with a ruler in his hand.

"Tidus, why are you not paying any attention to my lesson on 'The History of Races?" Mr.Mika was freaking out. He swung the ruler around as he ranted Tidus' "misbehaviour"…. He swung around and almost hit Yuna in the head, but Tidus grabbed the ruler and flung it to the ground. The class gasped and then silenced. All but Tidus.

"What were you thinking? You almost hit Yuna. If that isn't "misbehaviour," I don't know what is!" He leaned over to Yuna and looked at her, "are you okay Yuna?" he asked in a deep forgiving voice. The class held back their murmurs and listened to the reply.

"Yes, just a bit startled. Thank-you." She looked into Tidus' eyes and then smiled briefly. Mr.Mika was more furious than before. Gathering his thoughts, he finally found a way to make a proper sentence.

" DETENTION." He blurted. "DETENTION!" He was extremely angry now.

"But…" Tidus began to stutter. Then, an idea hit him. "Jeez, Mr.Mika, are you sure that's a good idea? You wouldn't want the Board of Education to find out that you were reckless and almost hit a student with your ruler, would you?" Murmurs instantly broke out through the class.

"Dude, that's so blackmail!"

"Can you believe it?..."

"Sora, Ryo, Cloud…."

That last one he heard was enough to spin Tidus into action. "Mr.Mika, I will not sit in a class knowing I'm in danger of being injured by the man who is supposed to be watching us." With that, Tidus picked up his stuff and left the class. A few seconds later, Yuna ran out after him.

"You didn't have to do that you know."

"I know." Yuna looked a bit confused (and curious) so he quickly added, "I didn't think your brothers would want teachers beating you up, you know?"

"Oh…Right…Heh. Well, you're probably right." Yuna began to giggle. Clearly, she thought Tidus had an interesting take on Mr.Mika's antics, even if they WERE fake, but then she didn't know that. "So… What do we do know?"

"Huh?" It took Tidus a few moments to realize that he was nowhere near any of Yuna's brothers, but with HER, and that there was no one around who knew that Yuna was their sister. "Well…. I suppose we could, uh…. I don't know, really."

Yuna, once again, began to giggle spontaneously. "We could just sit around until our next period classes… You know… talk." Yuna flashed Tidus a smile, although he noticed that it wasn't her usual I'm-so-innocent one. 'Screw it. What now? I could totally betray my friends and go after their sister or I could….not.' Tidus consulted with himself for a few moments and decided that the latter choice was definitely NOT the way to go.

"That sounds like a good idea." Yuna flashed Tidus another smile, this time, however, he noticed, much to his prevail, it WAS her I'm-so-innocent smile. 'Well, at least I can talk to her….' He could feel disappointment flicker across his face. Yuna must have seen, because she quickly asked him what was wrong. Today had shown that Tidus could force himself to think quick in times of distress, however his "good wits" seemed to be failing him now.

"Well, I, uh….Well, you see….. It's just that…."

'What do I do?'

Tell her the truth

Absolutely not

Okay, so my conscious isn't helping out AT ALL. Oh….

Yuna stood in front of Tidus, blissfully unaware of the queer-o thoughts that were running through his head.

"I think I might fail a test for Mr.Mika. That's it. A test."

"...A...test? Tidus! Don't be so worried! I could...tutour you..." Yuna looked nervous at her last statement, even though it had been her who had suggested it.

"Really?" Oh...Too excited sounding. Your chance to spend time with Yuna could be ruined! Don't sound so desperate! "I mean, you would do that for me?" To be honest, he really COULD use some tutouring...

"Of course! I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind me putting in a few extra hours at the school to help a friend!" Yuna stopped and hesitated. "Of Sora and Ryo..."

Tidus was quiet for a moment. "Thanks, Yuna." She looked up and smiled at him. She leaned a little bit closer. Their faces were inches apart...

RING! The school bell went off and interrupted what would have been Tidus' happiest moment.

"Oh!" Yuna gasped and pulled away. "I'll uh...See you at band practice?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah...Sure." Tidus shrugged and pretended he was not seriously considering reprogramming the school bell...Well, at least, having Gippal reprogram it for him. He was a bit more...Skilled than Tidus was with machines...He remembered the year before, when Gippal had decided he was going to play a small prank on Brother...Or at least, it was GOING to be small. A tiny little stink bomb with a timer placed in his locker. Tidus had been...Interested in how the bomb worked and may have...Accidentally reprogrammed it. It was supposed to have gone off about 10 minutes before the monthly locker inspection. Unfortunately, it ended up going off DURING the locker inspection...Just as Principal Trommel was opening it. How coincidental, huh? Brother got in quite a bit of trouble. And began hating Gippal even more than before. Oh, well. It wasn't REALLY Tidus' fault...Really.

When Tidus found the strength to snap out of his flashback, Yuna had left, and he was stuck in the middle of a flood of students. All of a sudden, he was on the floor. He looked up and met the face of...Sora? Or maybe Ryo? Definitely Ryo. He looked like he was in a big hurry. Which made sense because Ryo was ALWAYS late.

"Oh, hey, Tidus." Ryo always seemed to have an upbeat attitude despite the fact that he was always... Late. And in trouble...And...Well... Just...Ryo. Ryo could always tell Shuyin and Tidus apart...Kind of making Tidus feel guilty that he had a difficult time telling him apart from Sora. But not Shuyin. HE could tell them apart. It was probably because Shuyin and Ryo were like, best friends. But really, right now Tidus was more concerned about getting through his next two periods and having lunch. Thankfully, Ryo hadn't heard what Tidus said about Yuna earlier, because Tidus had both classes with him. Which could be a problem. Not only was Ryo always late, anyone hanging out with him was late. Tidus guessed having Ryo crash into you in the hallway must be 'hanging out.'

Tidus sighed, and got off the floor of the now empty corridor. He brushed himself off and then proceeded to blink at Ryo, who blinked back. Then, at the same time they glanced around, looked at the clock on the wall, looked back at each other and said "shit." Then, they ran towards their lockers to grab their books. The timing was perfect, as it had become a near daily routine, what with tidus choosing the spot to stand that Ryo just so happened to be about to hurtle into. Unfortunately, it had also become a near daily routine for Mr.Zidane.

"Boys!...Tidus and Ryo, must you two ALWAYS be lat for your classes?" Tidus couldn't understand why he asked them. They gave him the same answer every day. "How many times do I have to tell you to pay attention to your time tables?"

Although, Ryo was always slow getting to school, he was quite quick with his tongue. "Once more, as always, sir."

"Yes, I thought so...Carry on." Mr.Zidane is losing his stuff. He gave up too easily. Tidus' head buzzed with thoughts as he began to walk down the hall. "AND DON'T LET ME CATCH YOU AGAIN, OR I'LL TELL YOUR FATHERS, TIDUS, RYO!" Or... maybe he wasn't. They sped up, and arrived at their next period. Late, but they got there.

"You're late," Spoke the teacher as they entered the classroom.

"We're aware." Ryo didn't waste much of his time on manners...He'd already spent too much of it on sleeping and making TIDUS late.

"Sit." The teacher was quite short with them, and didn't waste HIS time because this happened every day. Tidus and Ryo saw where the two last seats were and almost vomitted on the spot. They didn't want to make a scene (Not that they hadn't already) so they sat down. Tidus got the better of the two awful seats and tried not to laugh as Ryo tried to distance himself from the...Oddly styled blue hair that was sitting in his face. _Jeez, Seymour, why don't you get a haircut?_ Tidus saw being swatted in the face with a piece of rock hard hair and his thoughts were replaced with new ones. Although thinking them made him feel slightly guilty. That'll teach ya for making me late. Tidus shot Ryo a grin when he looked over and went back to pretending he was paying attention.


	4. Chapter 4

**Life From All Sides**

Chapter 4

_L__iving A Dream: Part II_

Tidus opened his locker to look at himself in his mirror, because at lunch he knew that he would see Yuna, because he would go looking for her. All of a sudden, his locker door slammed shut. He looked beside him to see who slammed it. It was Cloud, and he was fuming. " Uh, what's wrong Cloud?" said Tidus, hoping that Cloud was angry at something ridiculous so he would stop fuming soon.

"You and my sister happened that's what!" he slammed his fist against the locker. "I watched you and her out the window on the door to my classroom. YOU TRAITOR!" Cloud grabbed Tidus by the collar of his shirt. He was about to pound his face in when the teacher yelled.

"Tidus, WAKE UP!" Tidus snapped to. He was 100 embarrassed. He looked over at Ryo, who was laughing his head off at the fool beside him.

"Yeah, wake up sleepy head." he said, tears in his eyes.

Tidus sheepishly looked up at the teacher. " Tidus, I am disappointed" he whipped around and walked to the front of the class. " See me at noon." He said and then followed with " and let this be a lesson to all of you: don't be so irresponsible and you won't have to stay here with me."

Tidus was now crying (in his head of course), he couldn't see Yuna at noon and flirt, he always dreamt of flirting with her. He drew another picture at the back of his book. It was of him and Yuna…getting married. He looked at it and then at Ryo, who was peering over Tidus' shoulder, confused and in shock.

"What is this? What are all of these pictures of you and my sister for? WHAT'S GOING ON?" he grabbed Tidus' notebook, ripped the page out, and stuffed it in his coat pocket.

"Dude. Give me back my pictures! It's none of your business why I drew these pictures!" he reached for Ryo's pocket. God Ryo, you are a fruit salad with a side order of queer! Give me back my pictures!

"You like my sister and now, everyone will know it, even Cloud. Remember, I am a part of the newspaper-editing club. I CAN just edit the pictures into it. Oh, you're gonna get it! What else do you have? A shrine?" he giggled.

Tidus looked up at Ryo and slowly nodded his head in embarrassment. He never felt so stupid before. He turned his head away from Ryo. Ryo just stood there and stared. He started to mutter and then blurted " THE WORLD WILL KNOW THIS FRIDAY!" Friday was when the weekly paper came out.

"Ryo, I will tell the everyone that you own all of the Jewel CD's so, WATCH IT! Now, if you don't mind handing over that sheet!" he blackmailed someone for the second time in two classes, that was like, a world record. He sat and pondered over his thoughts, wondering if he could blackmail anyone else that day.

"Fine, but next time, you are doomed. Because your secret will be revealed." Said Ryo, with, what Tidus noticed with pleasure, was an extremely upset look.

"Then so will yours. So, watch yourself Ryo. Let me take care of my business, which is with your sister." He snatched the sheet from Ryo's hand and pushed in his chair. He strutted out of the classroom like he did some major thing, oh the expression on Ryo's face. He walked down the hall, opened his locker, and opened it to look at himself in the mirror. Then, all of a sudden it slammed shut, just like in his dreams. He looked to see who it was, it was not Cloud, but Tifa.

"Did you record that thing Yuna said to me? Because if you did you can take that tape and shove it up your-," she was cut off by Shuyin and Gippal laughing as they came over.

"So, Tifa, whatcha talking to Tidus for?" asked Gippal. He smirked and did his "secret" handshake with Shuyin, which meant, " Oh my god, I rock"

"Nothing important. After all, I am talking to Tidus." She said. Did she just ATTEMPT a burn? Because, it didn't turn out to well. She turned back to Tidus and said, "well, see you later, she passed by, turned and smiled.

"Dude, what did she want anyways? I mean she never asked for anything from you except for you to tell her she was number one. " Said Gippal.

"Pft. I never did say she was number one though. You did. Anyways, she wanted the tape I recorded this morning." He re-opened his locker again and fixed his hair. He took out the sheet of paper he drew Yuna on and put it into his backpack. He shut the locker door and walked to the cafeteria.

"Uh, Tidus? Aren't you supposed to go in for the teacher? I mean, he is strict and if you don't go in you will have to stay after school, which is when we have band practice." Said Gippal.

"Pft. We can reschedule. Anyways, I have a date with destiny." Actually, I have a date with Yuna. She thinks she is just tutoring me. Oh she is in for a big surprise. My heart soars when I see her. I must see her at least this once. Just for a few minutes. Who knows? I might even be able to get that kiss in. He waved behind his back as he walked into the cafeteria. He scanned the tables looking for Yuna. He spotted her talking to Rikku. If he was caught with Yuna AND Rikku he would lose all of his popularity status…. which would mean Rikku would be more popular than him. He decided to lure Rikku away from the table…but how?

"Free dessert to the first person who screams 'Ice Cream' at table three!" he shouted. Only Yuna and Rikku were at table three, and Rikku would shout more easily than Yuna.

"ICE CREAM!" shouted Rikku and sure enough, she went to the front of the cafeteria to claim her prize. Tidus walked over quickly, sat down beside Yuna, and slid closer to her. He sighed and then slid his hand closer to her.

"So, Yuna….I need to be tutored now…want to go to the library?" he sighed and then put a smirk on his face. I am so smooth.

"Well, I should go tell Rikku…don't want her to worry if I all of a sudden disappear." She got up. But Tidus grabbed her hand.

"No! You can't." he pulled her toward the exit. He didn't realize how much of a mistake he made by grabbing her hand. He steered around the hall, making his way to the library.

"Uh, Tidus." Yuna whispered, "you're hurting my hand." He loosened his grip and turned to her. They were now in the library, in the very back…ALONE.

"I…I am sorry Yuna." He grabbed the nearest book on the shelf beside them. 'William Shakespeare' a biography… That's it! Literature! I struggle in literature! The sad part was…he DID struggle in literature, maybe Yuna tutoring him was not such a bad thing.

"Oh, it's okay." She rubbed her hand. She stepped a little closer to Tidus. Too bad she had no clue that Tidus had no clue that she, as well, was hitting on him….

He turned to her. "Shakespeare… he is a great movie producer… I watched his movies…" he had no idea that Shakespeare was a famous poet… But he really did think that he was a movie producer because just that night he watched 'Romeo and Juliet'.

"Uh, Tidus…. He is a famous poet. He doesn't direct movies or produce them. He is dead. A great loss." She giggled.

What an angel. She speaks like some guy named William Shakespeare… Why do I feel like I was just talking about that awesome cartoon character? Hmm… I want chocolate.

"Uh…. Yeah." He said. " of course, what ever you say." He as well, inched closer. They were just inches apart when Tidus stepped on Yuna's foot. "Sorry." The moment lived on. They again, were inching closer and-

"Whatcha doin'?" asked Rikku. She stood and watched them like a dog watching its owners eating. She reached for the book in Tidus' hand and walked over to the table. Tidus and Yuna sighed and walked over to the table as well. Tidus sat down beside Yuna and pouted. "so, Tidus, Yuna told me you needed to be tutored. Anytime she is unavailable, I can tutor you instead." She flipped through the pages.

"Uh…gee, thanks." He sat there and stared blankly at Rikku who put her feet on the table and leaned her chair backward. "so, Rikku…..you and Yuna are cousins."

_That was the best thing you could think of?_

Oh, give the boy some slack. He almost fulfilled his dream but SHE ruined it.

**I think you are both useless. You are always bickering amongst each other. Why can't we all just… get along? He will have another chance later.**

Oh, shut up. This time was perfect. He had the PERFECT chance.

_Fools, once I take over this brain you will stop arguing with me!_

"Yep, and best friends. We are ALWAYS TOGTHER!" she said sitting up straight in her seat.

"So I see." Said Tidus. What a freak. She like STALKS HER COUSIN!

"Yeah, uh, Rikku, could you give me and Tidus some alone time? I do really need to tutor him you know." Yuna blushed. Tidus just stared. She was BLUSHING over him!

Wow, I might actually have a chance with this girl. I mean like, seriously! Blushing? She must REALLY like me. Oh, I must draw this and add it to my shrine. YUNA AND ME TOGETHER FOREVER!

"Uh, yeah. I guess I could. Sorry I wasted your time." She sounded almost depressed before she left the room. Tidus almost felt sorry for her. ALMOST. Rikku was the least popular and no one would want to hang out with her. She was alone with nowhere to go. Tidus turned to Yuna. An expression of guilt was on her face. How could she hang out with someone SO unpopular? She was her cousin but she shouldn't lower her status just for Rikku. She could really be popular. She has the looks, the attitude and the smarts. Everyone would want to hang out with her. He opened his book and started to read. He looked over at Yuna. Her face was so beautiful, like porcelain. His hand slipped onto hers. "Woops." He whispered. Yuna stared at him.

"It's okay Tidus. I don't mind." Her grip tightened around his hand. "Tidus?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"Uh, never mind. I think I forgot." She blushed again. Darn it. I thought she was going to say something like: I kind of…like you. I guess I should stop living in a dream.

Tidus looked up at the clock. Five more minutes until the end of school. He waited patiently as beads of sweat rolled off his face. He looked down at the page he was currently on in his notebook. His Yuna page. He looked at it and then drew him and Yuna in the library reading a book and holding hands under the table. A simple misconception is what he now thought of him and Ryo that morning. Ryo, if only you understood. If only you knew the love I have for your sister. The bell rang. He stood up, walked out the door and outside, and headed down the street for their awaited band practice. He turned around and faced the bus stop. There, waiting in line, was Yuna.


	5. Chapter 5

**Life From All Sides**

Chapter 05

_Collision of Sky and Ocean_

Monday, September 7, 2005 Period 2

Dear Diary,

Today has been in the least... Amazing. I guess I really should be paying attention to class rather than writing, but I have so much to say! So many things have happened, I don't know where to start. I suppose the beginning would be the best idea.

First, I ran into Tifa in the halls with Rikku. Power by numbers, right? Wrong. Not only would it make no difference if there were two of us and one of her, there wasn't one of her. Lulu and Aeris were with her, as usual. But this time, things happened a little differently. I couldn't stand her being so mean to us, so I called her a whore, Diary! Rikku was really shocked. Everyone was really shocked... I was really shocked! I guess part of me knew that nothing really bad could happen. I mean, sure all the mean insults can get to you, but she could never really hurt me. I had seen Sora and Cloud walk in the school out of the corner of my eye. You may not think it, (like Rikku) Diary, but they really ARE good brothers to me. They are.

Of course, there's more. I know I said before that they're good brothers -and they are, really!- but Cloud can be a tad bit overprotective sometimes. I know that seems completely wrong, but it's not. Tidus -Sora and Ryo's friend- he's so cute! I would really like to be able to hang around him more, because he's so nice...and...funny and just all around wonderful. But that's not going to happen. Or at least, not in the way I want it to. Tidus only ever speaks to me because he has to. I AM his friends' little sister. Not only am I the LITTLE SISTER, Tidus is super popular, and, despite who my brothers are, I am a... Well, a loser. I DO get to spend more time with him.I offered to be his tutour after he told me how badly he was doing on some classes. He accepted me... As his tutour. But that's all...

Today, in Social Studies, I almost thought Tidus actually liked ME. Stupid, huh? Of course it was. He helped me out when Mr.Mika almost hit me with a ruler. A ruler! Can you believe it? I think he needs to get new glasses. Tidus actually walked out of the classroom after ranting on Mr.Mika about how he could have hurt me. After he'd left, Mr.Mika obviously thought it was my fault from the look on his face, so I followed him. Tidus, that is. He told me in the hall, said "I didn't think your brothers would want teachers beating you up, you know?" Well, my hopes were instantly stolen away from me. Of course I didn't show him that. I covered it up with a giggle and a few "right.."s. He didn't suspect anything. But imagine if he had, Diary. I would be so made fun of. The whole school would find out. Tifa would never let me live it down...

...Actually, he almost DID find out, now I think of it. We almost kissed, you know. Or at least, I almost kissed him. I don't think he realized what was about to happen. Neither did I, really. Which is, I suppose, why I did it. Try to kiss him, that is. Thankfully the bell rang, and shook me out of my little girl fantasy. I was just in time to realize what I was doing and pull away.

Well, Diary, I suppose I shouldn't write anymore at the moment. Bye for now!

Yuna

Period 7

Dear Diary,

I had my first tutouring session with Tidus... And I may have... Flirted... A little. Or alot. But he was completely oblivious... Again. We almost kissed... Again. He stepped on my foot... Again? No. That's the first time he's stepped on my foot. But... After, we almost kissed... Again! But Rikku came and ruined it. That's okay, though. I... Don't think Cloud would've let him live to see another day.

I said earlier "They're good brothers to me." I think I'm beginning to change my mind. I really do care about them. I do. But... Cloud is so overprotective. And Ryo... He is, too. Sora... I've never actually seen or heard him ever do anything majorly overprotective (I.E. Beating up a guy that apparently had a crush on me. Poor Jaret... Ryo kind of went REALLY hard on him) but I can only assume. It seems to be in my family's nature... Besides, looking at Ryo and looking at Sora, and knowing what Ryo can do, I guess it's obvious I'm never going to really get a chance with Tidus. Not only is it that I like HIM, he's their friend. I could never get away with anything with him. EVER. My brother's really do seem like a curse sometimes. Really, they do.

Actually, I bet Sora would be worse than Ryo. He seems like an innocent sort of person, the only violent thing about him being his family (Cloud and Ryo!), but that's only what SEEMS to be. Sora... I've seen him when he gets really upset. He's put people in the hospital before... And those are people close to him. Ryo is definitely not going to be accusing Sora of being gay anymore. Ryo is Sora's twin. He came out with a broken leg. I can only imagine what would happen to Tidus... But then, I guess Ryo started that fight. Is it right for me to say he deserved it? After seeing what he did to Jaret, I'd say Ryo had it coming to him.

I think... That I'm being stupid again. Really, to get me to the library,so I could tutour him, Tidus dragged me there after tricking Rikku into... Going away. He grabbed my hand and dragged me through the halls... No one saw. I almost wish they had. People would know... That I had touched him. But I'm being stupid, aren't I, Diary? We got to the library... And... He... Didn't let go. When I mentioned it to him, he was... Embarassed, I guess. He let go.

I shouldn't have pointed anything out.

Anyways, back to Rikku ruining it. She came in and a)stopped the kiss, b)put her feet on the library table(Barbaric!) c)said a bunch of really stupid things. Tidus probably thinks were like lesbians now. And I think that's what she was aiming for. She was all "WE'RE BEST FRIENDS!" First, she could TRY not to be so stalker-like, and second: SHE LIED! Rikku's best friend is Paine. She just did that to freak Tidus out. Can you believe her?

Yuna

After School

Hey, Diary! School is OVER. Finally! That was the longest (AND HAPPIEST) day of my life. I'm getting a ride home on the bus, because Rikku's staying after school, and I don't want a ride alone with Brother. I suppose I could try Cloud, but... I'd rather not.

So, - Oh my God. There he is, Diary! Across the parking lot! He's... He's looking this way! Oh my God. I have to go, Diary! WISH ME LUCK!

Yuna


	6. Chapter 6

On second thought, this story is going to be uploaded completely unedited from it's original state.  
SOmeday I may go back and redo it. Prolly not.

One little thing you should know about people's age (or maybe two tidbits): Selphie is like, Rikku's age, which means two years younger than her age in the game (and Leon.) Sorry to any hardcore Selphie fans who are upset by this.

Okay, from here, you can make up what ages they are, but I'll tell you what grade they're in: In grade 11 (11th grade) is: Cloud, Leon, Sephiroth, Brother, Tifa, Aeris, ...Seifer, and anyone else who should be their age, I guess... You can figure it out... AND IRVINE. :)

Grade 10 (10th grade): Gippal, Yuna (But she's a year younger), Tidus&Shuyin, Sora&Ryo, Riku(he was born like, right before the cut-off date), Wakka(Also born before cut-off date),Um... Lulu, Paine (born right after the grade 9 cut-off date, so younger than the rest), and pretty much...other people their age. Oh, yeah... Yuffie, too. Kairi as well.

Grade 9 is just like, Rikku, Namine (Grr...), Selphie, and... um... (I'm trying to think here!) Well, I'll get to that when they actually come into the story... Oh. Seymour's in the 10th grade too... :)

My apologies for this horrendously long author's note... I hate them, but this fic is so confusing, I kind of had to put it in...

------------  
LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 06

Grinning, Tidus headed to the spot where Yuna was standing. Just as he came to a stop in front of her, she slammed shut the tiny book she was writing in, and looked up with frustration. Quickly, her look turned to embarrassment.

"Oh! Tidus," she said, "You're... Right there. What a surprise..." Slowly, Yuna smiled at him.

"Uh... Yeah. So Yuna... How come you're going on the bus? Don't you usually get a ride with Rikku?" Tidus asked.

"Oh, that," she replied, "Well, see, Rikku's in a bit of trouble and has to stay after school, and Brother... He's... got some... friends coming over, see? I don't want to get a ride with them when Rikku's not there..."

Tidus thought for a moment. "Even so, you shouldn't go on the bus. It's where all the smokers and perverts go, you know? They get all touchy and they hassle you and stuff. Couldn't Cloud give you a ride?"

"Well... His car is full," Yuna replied. The hurt in her eyes was obvious to Tidus. He doubted it was a matter of Cloud's car being filled.

Tidus thought hard. Yuna would have to walk. He could not allow her to go on the bus. Not just because he cared, either. He knew how upset Cloud, Sora, and Ryo would be if they found out she was on the bus with the Perv Gang, which is what the called the perverts in the school.

"Hey! Yuna, how about I walk home with you? I'm going to your place, anyways, and it'd be a lot less dangerous for you!"

Yuna grinned. Jumping forward, she said in an extremely excited, girly voice, "Really? I mean... You'd do that?" Her face fell. "Oh, but it's so far."

Tidus blinked. He knew Yuna lived quite a bit away, but it wasn't really THAT far. They could make it with half an hour walking. Actually, they could walk to his house and call Cloud for a ride!.. And maybe do some stuff in between. He smiled.

"I have another idea!" he exclaimed. Yuna looked at him. Just as Tidus was about to elaborate for her, Sora walked up.

"Yuna," he said, "What are you doing at the bus stop?" Yuna told him about Rikku and Brother, and Sora looked like he would burst out laughing. "Yuna! Why don't you just come with us? Jeez. Must girls always complicate things?" He shook his head.

"But, Sora," Yuna persisted, "Cloud's car is FULL. There's no room!"

Sora blinked. She was right.

"Well... In any case, you're not going on the bus. Come." Sora grabbed Yuna by the elbow, motioned to Tidus and headed towards the car. Tidus frowned. Sora had ruined his plan. Slowly, he trudged after them.

As they reached the car, Cloud looked up and raised an eyebrow. "She's going with you," Sora said. "I'll walk... Tidus. You- come with me." He then grabbed Tidus by the elbow and then began walking... Back to the school?

"Sora!" Tidus shouted, "Stop! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Behind him, Tidus could hear all occupants of the car begin to laugh. He threw a desperate look over his shoulder. Everyone but Ryo and Yuna looked like they thought his distress was hilarious. Yuna just looked really nervous, and Ryo... Well, Ryo and Sora were always coming to school at different times in the morning, and they had different classes, but other than that, they were practically always together.

Tidus heard the school doors swing open, and Sora marched straight through the school. Finally, they came out back to where the football field was. Sora let go of Tidus' arm, and began walking towards the fence at the other side of the school grounds.

"Are you coming?" he asked Tidus.

"Well," Tidus replied, "No. I wasn't planning on it." Sora turned around and glared at Tidus and he decided that he'd better follow. Something about the glare told him he had better follow. Once they'd reached the other side of the field, Sora began to climb the fence. "What are you doing?" Tidus burst out at him.

Being careful not to fall, Sora swung around to face him and said with an extremely calm voice, "Taking a shortcut. Come on."

He continued to climb and Tidus soon followed suit. As he made his way up the fence, Tidus realized that he had to do something before Sora became a mini-Cloud. When Sora had explained his fence-climbing reason, he'd sounded... Cold. Sora wasn't like that, but Cloud was. Tidus didn't like Cloud. Well, he was okay. Sometimes. Maybe.

Sora easily leaped off the other side of the fence, and Tidus struggled to repeat the action. Clearly, Sora had come this way more times than anyone realized. Which meant more than zero.

"Sora, man," Tidus complained, jumping off the fence, "How do you know this is a shortcut? You always get a ride with Cloud. You never have a chance to take any shortcuts."

Tidus waited with unease, but Sora never answered. Tidus followed Sora through the woods for a long time in silence.

After what Tidus presumed to be about 7 minutes, Sora said, "I don't use it as a shortcut. Just as a... walking path."

Tidus knew that was all the answer he'd be getting, true or not- although something in Sora's voice told him it wasn't- so he didn't push. Sora continued to weave around the trees ahead of him, taking turns, and going this way and that. Tidus decided that they had to be lost, but soon realized he was wrong. After a twenty minute walk from when they'd left the school, Sora pushed through some trees, and Tidus found himself in the backyard of a fairly nice-looking house. They walked past it, and Tidus jumped when he heard yelling from inside.

"...Sora?" he started, but was cut off.

"Ignore it," Sora said and continued walking. Tidus frowned. The house was certainly nice, but the family inside didn't sound too kind. Tidus was surprised when they walked to the front yard. They were just down the street from Sora's.

"Dude," he breathed. "THAT'S LIKE, TEN MINUTES CUT OFF THE WALK!"

Sora turned to look at him. "I know."

Sora walked off, and Tidus followed. When they got to Sora's house, and entered the large room that Sora had claimed as his 'music room' Tidus' visit was short. As soon as he entered the room, he was dragged out by Ryo.

In the hallway, Ryo nervously started to talk. "Okay, Tidus, I know I wouldn't tell about the Yuna thing- and I won't- but... About the Jewel CDs. I just..." Ryo frowned. "Who told you?" Ryo threw a nervous glance over his shoulder. He looked at Sora, whose face was inches away from Riku's, glaring almost angrily at him.

Tidus watched Ryo and followed his gaze to see Riku and Sora locked in what appeared to be a death-match staring contest. They tended to be over-serious about... Everything when it came to outdoing each other. He looked back at Ryo and instantly felt a slight pang of guilt.

"Hey, Ryo," he started, "Don't worry. Sora didn't tell me." Ryo looked surprised that Tidus had known what he was thinking, so he continued. "I have a twin, too. I know what it's like... To, you know, be upset over that sort of stuff."

"Right," Ryo said. Then, his expression changed. "Wait. YOU have a twin. Twins tell each other most everything... Well, you know in my case, I know not all twins get along so famously... But... Yeah!" Ryo stamped his foot on the ground. "Shuyin! HE told you. Oh..." Tidus frowned. Uh oh. Tidus hadn't told Ryo that Shuyin had told him but now Ryo knew anyways.

"Uh.." he began, but before he could finish Ryo had plastered a look of no emotion on his face and waked back into the room. Tidus could tell that he was up to no good, so he quickly followed. As he walked in, set on following Ryo, he felt a tug on his sleeve and found himself being dragged to the platform that the instruments were on. As he helped plugging in amps, he realized that if Shuyin and Ryo got in a fight, it would be his fault. Shuyin hadn't exactly told him, so much as been forced to spill the beans. Tidus had heard a bit about the Jewel thing when Sora and Ryo were talking near him one day, and had decided he'd wanted to know the rest. Nervously, he watched them as he set up.


	7. Chapter 7

God we were bad writers, Anne Marie.

Life From All Sides

Chapter 07  
Gippal got out of bed, and dragged himself over to his desk. He sat down and began to read over the notes on his desk; Rikku's notes. Turns out, she'd felt bad for him, claiming she understood what it was like to be in a position like he was; flunking classes, and whatnot. Gippal found that hard to believe, seeing as she was taking 10th grade math, despite the fact that she was in 9th grade, but, hey, whatever. He'd gotten a chance to talk to her, and he'd gotten notes.

Gippal picked up his pencil and began to copy over the notes. When he'd finished, he looked from his page to Rikku's page.

'How... HOW DO GIRLS WRITE SO NEATLY?' Gippal was nearly beside himself with anger and jealousy. Clearly, girls received better writing genes than boys did.

Sighing, Gippal stood up and put the notes in his binder, setting Rikku's aside. Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Gippal hastily showered and got dressed, before snatching up Rikku's notes, rushing downstairs, only just remembering his jacket (It was fall, kind of cold, you know) and heading down the street.

Gippal didn't look where he was going as he hurried down the street, and soon found himself sitting on the ground, a pile of books apparently from the library all around him.

"God!" cursed the girl he's run into. "Second person today!"

She let out an angry, frustrated sound and began picking up her books. Recognizing the voice, Gippal looked up.

"Jeez, Yuna. Calm yourself, why don't ya?"

He saw a blush light on the girl's face. She look up, her face turning bright red.

"Oh... Gippal. It's you. I didn't.. Realize... Argh, today has been so... Oh... First I ran into that Seymour kid and now YOU." Yuna groaned and stood up.

Scrambling to his feet, Gippal raised an eyebrow.

"And who's worse; me or Seymour?"

Yuna looked at Gippal and, folding her books under one arm, placed her other hand on her waist.

"Well, Seymour wasn't quite as sarcastic and arrogant as you." Then, Yuna giggled. "But I almost got swatted with his hair!"

Gippal grinned.

"A horrible fate, to be sure."

Yuna smiled, and looked at her watch.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I'm so late... Ryo will be some upset..." Yuna looked up, an air of confusion about her. "He said something about it being dangerous for me... With Tidus roaming the streets..."

Gippal blinked.

"Tidus... roaming the streets? Is Ryo on crack? Last time I checked, Tidus wasn't a serial killer or anything."

"Yeah, well... You know. Everyone in my family's kind of weird lately..."

"Oh?"

"Well, yeah... Cloud's been acting all weird and suspicious... Especially around Sora... And Sora just seems really confused about how Cloud's acting... And Ryo, well... he-"

"Hey, Yuna," Gippal cut in. "Didn't you just say something about being late?"

Yuna gasped, and dove onto her lawn, which they'd been standing next to. She rushed inside, leaving Gippal to stand there, suppressing laughter. Grinning, he headed across the street. He rang the doorbell, noting with relief that Cid's car wasn't in the driveway.

Much to his surprise(and joy) Rikku answered the door.

Immediately her face went pale.

"Oh..." she stammered. "Gippal... What..." she blushed. "What are you doing here... I mean... like... Here?"

"Your notes," he said coolly, handing her the papers.

"Oh," she said. Gippal thought she sounded disappointed. "Is that all?"

"Well... I guess. But, hey, I'm kind of bored. Wanna go for a walk with me?"

Rikku stood in front of him, blinking repeatedly.

After a long interval of silence, she grabbed up a jacket beside her and said, "SURE!"

'Wow... She's excited.'

Gippal and Rikku walked down the street in silence for some time.

"So..." Gippal eventually said. What should he say? How to word things?... How awkward. "I love the fall."

'Oh, God,' Gippal thought. 'Well, good job. That was a real conversation starter.' Gippal cursed himself, but soon found it really didn't matter. Apparently, Riku really DID love the fall.

"Oh, me too," she gushed. "The leaves are so gorgeous. So many beautiful colours, you know?"

"Oh...Uh, yeah. You bet. Just... Awesome. For sure."

Rikku giggled.

"Well, I can tell how much you must like it."

Gippal smiled. Glancing at Rikku, he saw her looking at the trees, and occasionally reaching up to touch a branch hanging over their heads. She was so...cute. Really, just, the way she smiled, looked... did anything, really, was cute. She looked back at him, and he blushed, looking away.

"Hey," Rikku said, "What time is it, do you know?"

Gippal looked at his watch. Apparently he'd been staring at Rikku- and they'd been walking- longer than he'd realized.

"Woah," he breathed, "It's already 1 o'clock." He looked at Rikku, and grinned, an idea forming. "Let's get something to eat."

"...Eat? Oh, I don't know... The food will go right to my hips, you know?"

Gippal raised his eyebrows, and looked at Rikku's waist.

"Right to your hips? Rikku... you've got no hips for that food to go to. You're like a stick. Come on, I'll pay."

Gippal grabbed her elbow, and soon they were in the downtown part of the city, deciding where they should eat. They chose a small café, and sat down in a booth in the corner.

Soon, an uninterested-looking waitress came over and asked for their order.

"Um..." Rikku muttered. She really didn't want anything. "I'll just have... some... A salad, please."

"Okay," the girl said without emotion, "and you?" She turned to Gippal.

"Oh... uh... I'll have... a... Actually, I want a salad, too," Gippal said, surprising himself. He didn't feel like scarfing down a burger at the moment, and, really, Ice Cream was nice, but for lunch? He'd pass.

"Okay, just wait a few moments, please." That said, the waitress left. Gippal shifted uncomfortably, silence stretching between him and Rikku until the food came.

"Hey, Rikku," Gippal said. "Don't you think it's kind of cold for Ice Cream? I mean... It's the middle of fall..."

"Gippal, weren't you listening before? It's never too cold for Ice Cream!"

"Oh," Gippal rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Of course."

"Hey!" Rikku joked, "It's true! Ice Cream is suited for all seasons!"

"Yeah..." Gippal replied, his voice trailing off.

They'd come to Rikku's front door, and now it was time for them to part.

"Well..." Rikku said, "I... Um... Thanks, Gippal. For lunch, you know. And the Ice Cream and... Well... For..."

"...For?"

"Well, being nice to me, I guess."

"Huh? Since when have I been nice?"

Rikku raised her eyebrows at Gippal.

"Well, we went for a walk... Hey, that was a really long walk! Anyways: walk, you bought me lunch, and-" Rikku motioned to her empty Ice Cream dish. "-you bought me Ice Cream. Also... you didn't call me Cid's girl. For once."

Rikku flashed Gippal a smile, and went into her house, closing the door behind her.

Gippal blinked and started to walk home. Cid's girl. The nickname he had for Rikku.

Gippal remembered when he and Rikku had been younger, and their fathers had worked together. It had meant Gippal and Rikku were always being brought on countless work outings, with noone to talk to but each other.

When he'd first met Rikku, his father had told him, "Gippal, this is Cid's girl, Rikku."

The name, Cid's girl, was what Gippal had called her ever since. They'd been almost friends back then. But when Gippal had turned nine, he became a close friend of Baralai, soon leading him to be friends with Nooj, and so on.

He and Rikku had just... Stopped talking after that.

- - - - - - -

The next morning, Rikku awoke, feeling extremely pleased at how the day before had gone. She couldn't understand exactly why Gippal had taken her out for lunch, and the walk afterwards, but she enjoyed it.

Oh, wait. Why had Gippal taken her out? It wasn't one of those prank things? Where the popular pretended to like the unpopular girl but then embarrassed her in front of everyone?

Rikku shook her head. That was a movie cliche, that didn't happen in real life... Wait, no. Hadn't that happened to some girl just three weeks ago? Yes. It had.

"Oh..." Rikku moaned. "Poopie..."

Rikku sat on her bed, thinking hard. Gippal wouldn't do that... Because... Because... He was... Her friend? He'd certainly acted like a friend the day before.

Maybe... Maybe she should just stop thinking about it. If it was all just a big prank, she could deal with it when the worst happened. Otherwise, she should enjoy being able to spend time with Gippal, since she'd always wished for it.

Sighing, Rikku hopped off her bed and ran to the kitchen. She was hungry! The other day, she'd been to nervous and excited to eat the salad Gippal had bought for her, and she'd gone straight to bed after returning home.

When she entered, she found Brother sitting at the table, playing with two small Aurora and Philip figures. He appeared, oddly enough, to be staging a scene in which Aurora slapped prince Philip, seemingly killing him, apparently because of shock, and possibly the toy Aurora's unmatched strength.

"Um... Brother?" Rikku said, trying to remain calm, "What are you doing?"

Brother looked up, tears forming in his eyes, and began to cry. Rikku stared in confusion at her overemotional brother. Sighing, she sat down at the table, about to counsel him. Brother ran off in such a way that made Rikku think he must have had a deformity on his leg

- - - - - - - - -

Gippal spent the entire day locked in his room, studying in a foolish attempt to stop himself from failing Auron's test; A difficult thing to do, when images of a young blonde girl are completely overriding your mind.


	8. Chapter 8

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 08

Sora woke up, refreshed and peppy. He had a headache, so he walked to his bathroom, and opened his medicine cabinet. He took out a bottle, and popped in an Advil. Sora headed downstairs and, once in the kitchen, stuffed his face with a quick breakfast. Then, he picked up his backpack and ran out the door. Because he did not want to go near his recently vicious brother, Cloud, he decided to walk.

Scanning the area, he watched the other people walking. Upon walking past the same house with the trail he used, Sora heard the sound of screaming from within and a thump, as if something hard were hitting the wall. The back door opened with a bang and slammed shut quickly after. A young girl dashed out of the house, tears streaming down her bruised face.

Immediately, Sora recognized her. He slunk over to the forest path behind the girl's house. He followed her onto the trail, which he had become so accustomed to, unbeknownst to her.

She walked along the trail, deeper into the forest, Sora close behind. The girl walked lightly, twigs snapping beneath her feet on rare occasion. Sora followed near her, mimicking her silence. As he trailed behind, a brief moment of guilt seized him. Wasn't this kind of like stalking? After some contemplation on the matter, Sora decided it was irrelevant. Despite the fact that he was constantly following her, she'd never noticed, let alone become annoyed by it.

Sora's 'stalker relationship' with the girl was really quite ironic, in truth. He took every chance he had to watch her– brief moments when others weren't looking, walking home or to school– but didn't go so far as to steal her things. He knew stuff about her that noone else did, including the alcoholic violence of her father, which was for some reason spared on her brother but not her, but he didn't know one of the simplest things possible.

Her name.

Sora had absolutely no means of obtaining the girl's name, aside from asking someone at school, but that was out of the question completely; it would be far too obvious. Sora's only possible option was to ask the girl herself, but once again, it was too obviously a doomed plan.

Or was it? What harm could possibly come from asking her name?

Sora sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. This was beginning to border on obsession. He had to stop it.

He looked up to see that the girl had stopped walking. She was examining a bruise on her arm. Remembering that he wasn't supposed to know about her father, but forgetting his need for secrecy, Sora continued walking and stopped behind her.

"What happened to you?"

The girl's head snapped up at the sound of Sora's voice.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well it depends on what you mean by 'here,'" Sora replied coolly, although inside he was mentally cursing his carelessness. Despite who this girl was- well, he stalked her already!- he had a reputation to keep as 'popular,' so he stuck with his act. "If by 'here,' you mean this town, the obvious answer would be that I live here; but if you mean, more specificall-"

"I mean here?" the girl interrupted. "In my woods!"

Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Your woods? Look... uh, girl, there may be a way onto this path from your house, but that doesn't make it your path, and it most certainly doesn't make it your woods."

Trying to remain cool, Sora continued walking down the path.

"Where are you going?" the girl called after him.

"To school." Sora shouted. "Which, if you really must know, is why I'm here, in... 'your' woods– to go to school. Now, if you're done wasting my time, I do have to go."

"Typical of you, Sora," he heard the mutter. He spun around on his heel.

"Pardon?"

"I said it's typical of you... Or were you wondering how I knew your name?" The girl smirked. "Everyone does. It's actually difficult not to know the names of the biggest jerks in school.

Needless to say, Sora was shocked. This girl never defended herself from her father, whom physically harmed her, yet she got completely grouchy when he hardly did anything. Besides, his brothers were the jerks, not him. He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off.

"However, if that's not the case, I meant it's typical that you would say I'm wasting your time... After all, I'm not popular, like you."

The girl breezed past Sora, holding her head high. Acting on reflexes, Sora grabbed her wrist and spun her around. The girl let out a gasp of pain, and Sora could see the skin under his fingers was bruised. Not that he cared whether he was hurting her or not. He didn't like her, he was just interested in her. But not in any attracted way.

"Let go!"

Sora pushed the girl forward, until she was trapped between him and a tree.

"Hmph. No. Listen, if you stop being so stuck up, I promise I'll let you go," he snapped.

Sora watched as an odd expression came over the girl's face. Instantly he was struck with guilt. If he'd been one of his brothers, he wouldn't have cared how this girl felt, so long as she payed for being rude to him.

But he wasn't one of his brothers. On the contrary, he took pride in not being like his brothers.

The look of fear that played across her face made Sora push off from the tree, grab the girl's elbow and stomp off down the trail.

After long, awkward silence he said, in little more than a grunt, "Sorry."

Still stunned from Sora's first reaction, the apology only shocked her more. Wasn't Sora one of those popular jerks who didn't care about anyone else's feelings? Of course he was. He was Cloud and Ryo's brothers... And they were Tifa's friends. And she knew that Tifa was a horrible person. So following the immediate chain, Sora obviously was a jerk. She'd even heard that he once put his own twin in the hospital! That had to be saying something. She continued to ponder, but Sora's voice jerked her out of her thoughts.

"Hey! Are you okay? I hope... I didn't make those bruises...?"

"Huh?" The girl came out of her reverie and gave a stuttering reply. "Oh... No. That was my... Well, just... It wasn't you, though."

She didn't say anything she thought sounded too suspicious, but she thought she saw an odd glint in Sora's eye. A glint of deceit. Like he wasn't telling her something. At that moment, the girl decided that he definitely did file under 'JERK.' No doubt he was trying to trick her into liking him, only to embarrass her later. Not wanting attention from anyone in the school, she knew she probably should avoid Sora as best she could from then on.

"Oh... Well, okay, then. I guess..." Sora stopped walking. "We're at the school."

The girl looked up and hastily latched her hands onto the fence. She and Sora both climbed to the top, and jumped onto the empty football field on the other side. She rushed ahead and tried to cross the school ground as fast as she could. She stopped and turned around as Sora called after her.

"Hey! Wait!" He waved his arms frantically. What did he want? "What's your name?"

The girl froze. He didn't need to know that.

"Does it really matter?" she yelled back, turning and running into the school.

Sora watched unhappily as the girl ran off, pushing the school doors open and disappearing inside. Sighing, he trudged to the school and entered.

* * *

Gippa sighed and pulled open his locker. Tidus suddenly appeared beside him, griniing ear to ear.

"Hey, Gippal, what's u- "

He stopped his sentence rather abruptly and seemed to be interested in something down the hall. Gippal turned his head curiously, but only saw people, as always.

"There's my tutor!" Tidus declared suddenly and rushed off down the hall.

Gippal watched as Tidus rushed down the hall and nearly collided with Yuna. She was apparently tutoring him. He looked around for Rikku, but oddly enough, she didn't seem to be hanging out with Yuna. Gippal tried to ignore the sinking feeling he felt in his stomach upon not seeing her there. It was just curiousness...

He stumbled forward as someone smacked him on the back. Hurriedly, Gippal looked up and saw Shuyin standing beside him, laughing. Gippal blinked and watched until Shuyin's laughter died down and he began to speak.

"Oh, man... That was funny. But, uh, hey- What's up with Tidus? Why is he talking to... Yuna?"

"Uh... I think she's tutoring him."

"Oh." Shuyin's face remained blank, but Gippal could tell that he thought Tidus shouldn't be getting tutoring from Yuna. Despite being one of the few people in the school who actually knew about Yuna's relation to Cloud, Sora and Ryo, (Gippal was always extremely perplexed at how people couldn't tell she was– They did have the same last name...) Shuyin always stuck to the method of avoiding those that were less popular than him.

Gippal gave Shuyin a tight smile. He opened his mouth to speak but never got the chance.

"Hey, Gippal!" someone behind him squeaked.

He and Shuyin both spun at the voice, Gippal now grinning ear to ear, because he recognized immediately who he was, and Shuyin confused.

"Hey, Cid's Girl," Gippal drawled.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Shuyin, whom he could see was giving Rikku a very disapproving look. She was, after all, "unpopular." Gippal could tell Rikku had noticed, too. He saw her eyes flash with what he assumed to be anger. Shuyin opened his mouth to speak, and Gippal opened his to cut Shuyin off. But in the end, they were both interrupted before they began.

"So!" Rikku blurted, making it obvious she had been scared of what Shuyin was going to say. "Ready for that test?"

"Test?" Gippal asked and blushed abruptly after. Duh! Sir Auron's test!

"Um... Yeah!" Rikku giggled. "You know..."

"Yeah," Gippal laughed. "Yeah, I do... I think I'm ready. Your notes helped."

"I hope they did." Rikku looked nervously at Shuyin. "Well... I... Have to go. Bye!"

She turned and rushed down the hallway, out of sight.

"Ew. What a loser."

Gippal snapped his head to look at Shuyin's face as he spoke. He put on the best smile he could.

"Heh. Yeah."

Shuyin flashed Gippal a grin and left, claiming that Gippal shouldn't worry too much about his reputation going down or anything– Rikku had only talked to him. That was hardly his fault. Gippal sighed, and trudged off to his first class.

Once he got inside and seated, he quickly blocked out the teacher. Was he ready for Sir Auron's test? Sure, he'd studied. But he'd been thinking about Rikku so much, it was difficult to tell apart information on the subject from information on their "date."

Gippal sighed. He wasn't ready for this test.

* * *

Sora tapped his pencil impatiently on his desk. He was not in a good mood. The teacher was being a... Well, a bitch, and his day just wasn't going well.

He looked away from the board where the teacher was furiously scribbling down notes and stared at his feet. Sora eventually realized that his feet wouldn't be performing any miracles and looked away. Gazing out the window, something caught his eye. He stared at the sight before standing up and telling the teacher he wasn't feeling well. With her permission, he left class to go to the nurse's office. Not that he did. Instead, he ran home and locked himself in his room, falling asleep not long after.

* * *

By lunch, Gippal had decided that he was going to die of anxiety. Auron's class was next period. He was doomed.

Even Namine, the younger (annoying) sister of Tidus and Shuyin, who was usually too absorbed in bothering Sora to notice things, quickly caught on to his unease.

"Hey, what's wrong, Gippal? You look nervous."

"Huh? Oh. I... Just a test..." he muttered. Gippal was already upset enough, with all the stress of the test, and even being spoken to set him off. "Why do you even care? Go bother Sora!"

For reasons Gippal couldn't understand, Namine simply glared at him and left in an angry huff. Shrugging it off, Gippal headed to his locker for his stuff and then down the hall, just as the bell rang.

Taking a deep breath, he entered Auron's classroom.

As Auron passed out the tests, he murmured to his class, "Even a monkey could pass this test; I'm expecting you to do well."

'A monkey?' Gippal thought, finally feeling confident. 'I'll do fine in that case...'

Gippal wrote his test with ease and passed it in after only 25 minutes, though it was a 50 miute period. Rikku finished at the same time as him. Both of them reached forward to drop their papers in the place designated. As they did, Gippal felt his hand brush against Rikku's soft skin. Much to Gippal's unhappiness, Rikku yanked her hand away quickly. When he looked over at her, he saw a bright red blush light on her face. Rikku scooted back to her seat without looking at him.

Sitting back in his seat, Gippal felt someone's eyes on him. Uncomfortable, he glanced about the room. After staring at several down-turned heads, his gaze met a pair of emerald green eyes, belonging to Rikku. Rather than looking away this time, Rikku flashed Gippal a grin and then picked up a book, starting to read.

Gippal felt a rush of happiness. Acknowledged! Score!

He leaned back in his seat once again, smug in his accomplishments. Rikku was warming up to him, and he was sure he'd done fine on the test. Gippal frowned. Maybe he should have checked the test over. He shrugged the thought, off confident that he would pass with flying colours.

And was extremely dismayed the next day to find that he had completely bombed it.

"I can't believe it!" he commented to Rikku, who he had sat beside that day. "So much for a monkey being able to pass!" he spat, slamming the paper down on his desk.

"Obviously, Gippal," came a soft voice from behind him and Rikku, "A monkey would be smarter than you."

Rikku and Gippal turned to see Auron standing behind them. He cackled and dashed to the front of the room.

"Um, hey," Rikku said quietly, "Do you ever think Auron's um..." Gippal looked over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Um... A bit... Weird?"

"Uh... yeah," Gippal said, watching Auron flop down in his roller chair, spinning the chair about in circles. "Yeah, I do."

"Oh!" Rikku laughed. "Good... I was scared that I was alone for a moment there!"

"Heh. No. I almost feel really, really bad for Riku and Sephiroth... And Paine, of course."

Gippal grinned and looked over at Rikku who had begun writing something down. He watched her, admiring her beauty until the bell for lunch rang.

When the bell did ring, he leaped from his seat, and rushed from the room, as was his habit. Halfway down the hall, he wished he hadn't.

Drat! I could've walked with Rikku! Drat, drat, drat!

Gippal sighed. Entering the cafeteria (after dropping off his books at his locker) he looked around for the others, but saw only DORKS.

So he quickly went outside to the football field.

Scanning the area, he saw Sora trudging directly through the field. In the middle of a game. Sora made it to the other side without actually disturbing the game but for some reason, the players still became angry. They began yelling and cursing at Sora loudly. Gippal knew Sora as the sort of person who would naturally turn around and apologize.

This, however, was not the case today.

Sora continued walking, ignoring their shouts entirely. After Sora had gotten about 20 ft. away, one of the players became so frustrated that he picked up the football and threw it at Sora, hitting him on the back of the head. Gippal watched, biting his lip, as Sora stopped walking, his shoulders hunched.

Sora hadn't spoken to anyone since the day before, when he had gone home early without telling a single person- teachers included. Gippal was... worried. Everyone was. Sora had been acting odd and Gippal doubted he would take this well.

He was right. Although he was grateful that Sora didn't overreact. He simply kicked the ball back to them without even turning and continued walking away. Just as Sora kept walking, the players kept screaming.

And once again, they threw the ball at him, hitting him again, in the back of the head. This time, Sora DID overreact. In a major way.

Sora looked down at the ball now lying at his feet, lifted one of his large army boots, and came down on it, completely deflating it. Instantly, the screaming ceased, and an angry, unpleasant silence fell upon the entire outdoors- Apparently, Gippal hadn't been the only one watching. Gippal looked at the face of the player who had thrown the ball at Sora.

Gippal sighed. He moved to go over to Sora, but a voice from behind him stopped him.

"Ah..." Gippal spun on the heel he still had on the ground. "Rikku!"

For a moment an uneasy silence settled between Gippal and Rikku. But after looking at her broad smile, and glinting eyes, Gippal felt himself grinning.

"Hey! Have you eaten?" he asked her.

Rikku's eyes widened in surprise.

"Um... No. Why?"

Gippal grabbed Rikku's elbow and dragged her towards the front of the school.

"Where are we going?" she gasped.

Gippal laughed and dragged her out of the schoolyard.

"Right there!" he said pointing to a small restaurant across the street. "It's really good. I used to go there almost everyday."

Rikku sped up to catch up with him.

"I didn't bring any money with me, though..." she muttered.

"Oh, no matter," Gippal said. "I'll pay."

"But, Gippal!" Rikku exclaimed. "You bought me lunch on Saturday!"

"Meh. I'm buying again, then."

Gippal yanked Rikku to a table out in front of the restaurant, and a water soon came out to them. Both of them ordered, Rikku a bit reluctant.

"Wow!" she gushed after their orders got to the table, "This food really is good!"

"Yep."

Gippal nodded his head, agreeing with her. After that an uneasy silence settled between the two.

"Soo..." Rikku finally broke the silence. "Are you gonna retake that test?"

Gippal thought for a moment.

"I'm gonna have to."

Once again the table fell silent.

"I could... tutor you."

Gippal was quiet for a moment.

"Really?"

"Sure!"

"That'd be awesome!"

Gippal looked down at his watch.

"Next period's starting soon. I'd better go pay now..."

Gippal jumped up and headed inside the restaurant. Rikku sat at the table, enjoying the breeze and silence.

"Oh my lord!"

A cruel voice snapped her out of her reverie.

"Rikku, Rikku, Rikku..."

Tifa was standing by the table shaking her head, Lulu with her.

"I can't believe you ate this much food!" Lulu chortled.

"That is so disgusting!" Tifa put in.

"No wonder her waist is so wide!" Lulu laughed as she and Tifa turned to walk away.

Rikku sat there silently, watching them leave. Soon after Gippal ran out and yanked her up by the wrist, dragging her to the school and muttering about being late. Rikku didn't really listen, though, for only one thing was running through her head.

Am I fat?


	9. Chapter 9

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 09

Tidus sat in the library, picking out books for his lesson with Yuna. As he cracked the first one open, he choked on the dust. It obviously hadn't been read for the longest time. No wonder, it was the dictionary.

"Let me tell you the plot for that story, it starts with a aardvark that ends up in the zoo." Tidus turned and sighed as Gippal laughed at him.

"Not like I could read it anyway, half this stuff is blurry." Tidus sighed, setting the book back up on the table.

"Maybe you should go check it out, you might need glasses. I know this great place that made my eyepatch."

"I might just go get some glasses, then. Thanks, Gippal."

Tidus didn't go to the doctors, but got some glasses from the drug store. He bought a few though, just to see what one looked better. As he tried them on, he notcied that only one eye was better with each pair. The others just didn't work at all. He took the two that worked for each eye and broke them in half. He then taped them back together and put the new pair on. When he looked in the mirror he gasped as he looked like a complete idiot. One side was with a huge lens and the other was really small.

"HOLY SHIT!" yelled Tidus, as he looked in the mirror. He grabbed the glasses off his face and threw them to the floor. He then picked up a book and attempted to read wihout his glasses. He picked up his glasses, and with a sigh, headed towards Yuna's house.

"Tidus, what's with the glasses?" asked Yuna as she opened the door. Tidus frowned and sighed, "I can't read without them."

"You remind me of someone, ever see the show 'Lost'?"

"Can't say I have."

* * *

Rikku got up that morning with a horrible hunger pain in her stomach. She got up and headed towards the kitchen but then stopped herself.

"I can't eat, I'm on a diet now. Well, now that Tifa's called me fat," she told herself. Brother peeked from around he corner and looked around,

"Who you talkin' to?" he asked, shifting his eyes around the hall.

"No one, what's with the eyes?"

"I brokesteded my kerfiew last night... Dad found out and is going to get me, that is, if he finds me." he slipped around the corner.

'Brokesteded? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!' thought Rikku, trailing behind her brother and slamming the door to her room. She ran to her personal bathroom and grabbed a hair tie.

"Now, I have to do this right, not to mention the horrible smell if I happen to get it in my hair." she kneeled down the the level of the toilet and opened the lid, shoved her fingers down her throat and-

The bell rang for class as Rikku let down her hair, waving it madly. When she entered the doors she looked around to see the nerds with pocket protectors scrambling to find their glasses.

"Wakka, leave them alone!" shouted Tidus, grabbed the glasses and handed them to the geeks.

"Thanks!" snorted the one with the most acne. The others, including buck-toothed Billy, ran as fast as they could.

Rikku laughed and walked by, as the dorks that just ran stopped and made whistling noises at her. She cringed and kept going. She spotted Yuna and waved.

"Rikku!" shouted Gippal, walking up behind her and giving her a hug. He then stopped, only to remember she was unpopular. He recieved many strange glares and brushed his hair back. He pivited on his heel and looked at his friends.

"I got the wrong person," he yelled to them and then whispered, "Meet me tonight at the coffee shop."

"Oh, RIKKU!" chimed a voice too familiar, "Go with Gippal tonight, and I'll make your life a living hell. Oh, and remember, he doesn't like fat girls. Neither does Tidus, Yuna!" Tifa laughed as she thought what she said was 'clever'. Clearly, it was quite dumb. But her friends didn't seem to think so when the joined in with the laughter as well.

"Hmm, maybe I should get lypo-suction... Does it hurt Tifa?"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?" screeched Lulu. Tifa glared at her and gave a sarcastic grin.

"You think you're all that, but you're not. You're just a low down scum with no money. Gippal and Tidus can do better than you."

"I'm not even dating Tidus, and Rikku isn't dating Gippal. So, back off, Tifa,"sneered Yuna. Tifa and her friends pushed Yuna and Rikku into the lockers and strutted down the hall. Rikku fixed her hair and said, "That folks, is what we call the 'Slut Strut'."

Yuna giggled and grabbed Rikku by the hand and lead her down the hall to her first class.

"Now, after this class, you have to meet me at the library. I have History, so see you then!" Yuna squeaked in excitement. Yuna walked off and left Rikku alone. Riku just stared into the abyss and sighed,

'Am I really poor? And still, am I fat?' Rikku then stopped staring and ran to the bathroom. ' I just swallowed gum! I must get rid of it or it will go straight to my hips!'

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" called Rikku, making sure the coast was clear. She heard a bit of ruslting coming from the last stall, but decided it was okay to continue. Rikku kneeled down to the nasty toilet's level and opened the lid. When she was done vomiting, she went out to wash her hands.

When Rikku arrived in class, she was already late. She swung her back pack onto her chair and smoothly sat down. She cracked open her text-book to where the class was reading and faked paying attention. Her mind drifted from subject to subject. The first was her weight. She was troubled in a way that only a few people would know of.

'You're so fat!' yelled Tifa inside of Rikku's head. Rikku frowned and opened her notebook and flipped to the back. She started to write letters to herself to remind her to stop eating so much.

'Dear Rikku,

You are so fat that if you eat anymore you'll explode. Skinny is what the boys want. If you keep throwing up you will be pretty. I hate you right now.

From, Rikku'

"Rikku? What is this?" asked the teacher, grabbing her notebook and reading her note.

"Oh, it's a report for my health class," she lied. She snatched the book away and sighed.

After class Rikku stopped by the library only to tell Yuna she couldn't hang out with her that lunch hour. She walked to Gippal's locker and slipped a note in telling him to meet her at the arcade. She new it was a childish place for teenagers, but she enjoyed the cheap games and prizes.

At the arcade, Gippal searched for Rikku. When he spotted her, she was coming out of the bathroom with her hair tied up in a messy bun. She smiled at him and waved and he rushed over to her.

"Are you okay? You look pale!" he gasped as he felt her forehead to discover she was running a fever.

"Do... yo-...you think I am fat?" she stuttered. Gippal put his hand under her chin and lifted her head up so their eyes met.

"You are never going to be fat. You are perfect the way you are." He grabbed her and hugged her.

"Then, why don't you tell people we like each other? Is it because of my status?"

"Well, I don't think the guys would approve. Neither would Tifa... I'm doing all of this in your interest."

"Well, I would hate to tell you, but she already knows. I don't know how, but my life is already leading downhill. Just, please, tell your friends."


	10. Chapter 10

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 10

Rikku laid in the middle of her bed, thoughts of her appearance and weight drifting in and out of her mind. She rolled over and looked at her clock: 7:58. She was going to be late. Rikku sighed and got up, thoughts of her weight disappearing to be replaced with others. The day before had been a busy one, with the new girl- Sara- Gippal, and add to that- there had been a murder. A body had been found around 6 o'clock. Rikku shivered at the gruesome thought and carried on with her moring routine.

She first turned on the radio, listening to her favourite song, "King for a Day." She danced around and sung along with Billie. "Started at the age of 4," she chimed, swirling around. She felt a little dizzy after the first 5 spins and stopped. She opened her drawer and pulled out some thin carrot sticks and began to munch on them. She then stopped herself, remembering her self-agreement.

Rikku sighed and shoved the carrots away from her. She pulled on some clothes, noting how bad they looked on her after a glance in the mirror. Swinging her bookbag over her shoulder, she headed downstairs and out the door. Brother was still inside, eating Count Chocula. She looked across the street to where Sora, Ryo, and Yuna were sitting in the car, waiting for Cloud. After some hesitation, Rikku crossed the street and began to talk to her cousins. She talked to Yuna and Ryo for a few moments, but not Sora. He seemed to be totally spaced out.

"Hey why don't you come with us?" Yuna exclaimed. "That way you won't have to go with Brother!"

"What? Um, okay," Rikku said and hopped in the backseat next to Ryo.

"Of course she chooses to sit by me," Ryo said. "Everyone loves me." He flashed a smile.

"Woah!"

Rikku, Yuna and Ryo all looked at Sora, who was staring at his twin as if he had two heads.

"Woah!" Sora repeated. "What are you doing here?"

Ryo blinked. "I live here... With you."

Sora narrowed his eyes. "Do you know what time it is?"

Ryo looked at the clock." 8:07...?"

"8:07!" Sora exclaimed. "Exactly!"

With that, Sora shook his head, and turned away, leaning his head against the car door.

"Are we missing something?" asked Yuna, lifting one eye brow.

"Um... Heh. No, I just feel a little light headed. I'll be fine."

Cloud opened the door and slid smoothly into the drivers seat. He put the key into the ignition, and turned it, smiling as the motor roared.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Rikku, grinning.

"What?" asked Cloud, confused at her remark.

"You're smiling!"

"Oh, it's just because... I had alot of sugar this morning and feel peppy. It's nothing really." He frowned and went back to the thoughts that brought him happiness.

"Wow, Rikku, you look different," said Ryo, trying to find what it was.

"Yeah, I'm thinner. I've been on a diet."

"Well, that's not exaclty what I meant. You're so pale. And why lose weight? You're so skinny already!" he gasped. He felt something was wrong, and he wasn't the only one. Everyone, except Cloud, who was watching the road, was giving her weird stares.

Looking to her side, Rikku realized that actually it was only Ryo and Yuna giving her weird stares. Sora wasn't. He didn't even seem to be paying attention. She immediately realized that this could be used to her advantage.

"Sora doesn't think I look too pale. Do ya, Sora?"

"Huh? What? Oh, uh... No, of course not."

He didn't even glance her way when he said it. That little bit seemed to upset Ryo, becuase he reached across Rikku and hit Sora on the head. Rikku decided to change the subject.

"So... Why aren't Gippal, Nooj and Baralai with you guys, and what are you doing up this early, Ryo? You might actually have to go to first period for once!"

"Oh, it's just uh..."

"I get it," started Yuna, "You know that the substitute is going to be there today. We all know you have a crush on her." Ryo blushed and looked away.

"Probably because she looks so much like Jewel. Ryo loves her," Cloud spilled, laughing. Everyone snickered, except Sora, who was still lost in his thoughts.

"What's going on in that mind of yours?" asked Rikku, brushing her hair out of her face. Sora looked at her and frowned.

"If I told you that, I would have to kill you.," he said, he then smiled.

"Ha... Ha," Rikku laughed. "That's funny, Sora. Real funny."

"Actually, it's not," Yuna said disapprovingly. Sora looked at her but then made an odd, dismissive sound and turned away. "Sora, I'm serious. Didn't you hear in the news about that murder? It's not funny!"

"The murder? Yuna, that was probably just some loser who decided to drop out of a drug ring or gang without paying the money they owed. It's not like, some mass serial killer or anything. Don't be stupid."

"Sora, she was a 67 year old woman!"

The car stopped at the school. Sora rolled his eyes in response to what Yuna had said and clambered out of the car, walking away without listening to Yuna shouting behind him.

"SORA! DON'T FORGET TO-"

Sora rolled his eyes. Like he even cared.

* * *

Rikku sighed as she pulled open her locker. Rikku looked around her. Yuna was just down the hall from her at her locker. Tifa and Lulu were leaning against the lockers just a little bit away from her, picking on a young girl with bright red hair. A gang of real snooty popular guys were nearby- she recognized especially Vincent, a black-haired, rather tall boy. Gippal absolutely hated him- they were practically worst enemies. Rikku considered it for a moment. No. Gippal and Vincent were worst enemies. They hated each other. A lot. Pushing these thoughts aside, Rikku went back to getting ready for classes.

Rikku reached in to pull out a book. Her eyes widened as a tiny note fluttered to the ground. She bent down to pick it up, then looked around to see anyone who might have written it. Hesitantly, she opened it, gasping when she saw what it said.

'Meet me at the arcade at 5. If you don't come, I'll kill you. Come, and I will rape you. Your choice.'

"Oh my god, Rikku!" gasped Yuna, snatching the note out of Rikku's hands. Rikku rolled her eyes and laughed, moving towards Gippal, Yuna on her heels.

"Gippal, very funny note," said Rikku sarcastically, "But next time, don't be so immature about what is going on."

"What are you talking about, Rikku?" Gippal asked, wide-eyed. He was just lucky there was no one behind him. Rikku opened her mouth in horror as she saw Gippal's notes, seeing how the letters didn't match. Hhe ran off.

"Someone's actually going to rape me!" she screeched, opening a door to a bathroom stall. She kneeled down to the level of the toilet and threw up a green slime. She covered her mouth and started to cry. Her throat burned and her teeth turned red from the blood rolling off her gums. "What have I gotten myself into!" she screeched.


	11. Chapter 11

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 11

Yuffie entered the bathroom and giggled as she said goodbye to her new boyfriend. "He is SOO cute!" Yuffie looked around and then gasped in horror as she spotted Rikku on the floor, blood spilling out of her mouth. She rummaged around in her purse and grabbed her cell. "Drat! No service!" Suddenly the girl on the floor gasped for air. Yuffie rushed to her side. She pulled her up to a sitting position. Rikku wiped the blood off of her face and began to sob.

The door flung open and Yuna rushed in. "Rikku, what happened! Are you okay?"

Rikku nodded. "I'm fine... I just... I hit my head on the sink, is all..."

"Well, if you're okay... You'd better hurry then. Class starts in a few minutes."

Yuffie and Yuna helped Rikku to her feet. Rikku thanked Yuffie for helping and Yuffie wagged her fingers at them in a parting motion. The two girls left and headed into the hallway, trying to remain as quiet and unseen as possible. Not that it really mattered. Tifa and her gang of bullies were already occupied with a young red-headed girl. Tifa shoved the girl into the locker.They began to rain on the girl with insults. The girl squirmed away a bit until she was standing almost two feet away from Tifa, and her lackeys behind her. The girl leaned against the locker for breath, not trying to get further away from Tifa.

"Well, well, well," Tifa sneered, reaching for the girl. "What do you think yo-"

Tifa's words- and grasp- was cut off by an arm snaking its way between the two girls, the fist smashing into the locker.

"Aw, Tifa," Sora drawled, "That's not very nice. Why don't you pick on somebody your own size? But, then, with all those boob jobs I guess Lulu's the only one of the same size and you two don't pit against each other very often, do you?"

Rikku and Yuna both giggled. Tifa was in a very awkward position. She could step down and face humiliation or focus her bullying on Sora. She didn't go with the latter choice- Her chances of getting with Cloud would be even lower if she bullied his little brother.

"I'll talk to you later," Tifa sneered at the red head. The girl sighed in relief and turned to Sora.

'Thanks," she told him.

"No problem, just doing what's best."

"Sora!" called Auron, coming down the hall towards him,

"Someone said they saw you smoking on the grounds. I want to see you after lunch!"

The entire hall became quiet, except from a strangled gasp escaping Yuna. Tifa spun on her heel with Aerith, Lulu and Rinoa right behind her.

"What?" she exclaimed. (Even Tifa was concerned about this kind of thing– after all, wouldn't Cloud be glad if she was able to inform him of this?)

Sora's face became very confused.

"Me?" he asked. "Smoking? You're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid not," Auron said. "See me after lunch."

Auron turned and walked briskly down the halls. Sora's jaws practically dropped off its hinges. Rikku shrugged and pulled Yuna gently away from the scene.

"Sora obviously wasn't actually smoking," she comforted her cousin. "I'm sure Auron will believe him. He's Riku's dad and he knows Sora super well. Don't worry about it."

"Yeah," Yuna muttered and nodded.

* * *

Vincent grinned and leaned up against a locker at the end of school hours as he waited for Rikku to appear at her locker.

Rikku came over to her locker and opened it, not even noticing Vincent. As she grabbed out her books, her door to her locker was slammed, causing her to jump back. She looked at Vincent, then at the clock. The bus would be there in five minutes, giving her that time to get to the arcade.

"You'd better get to the arcade."

Rikku began to shake slightly. "If you're the one who sent that note," she said quietly. "Why are you waiting for me to go to the arcade? We're talking here... Now."

Vincent laughed. "Because, I think we need to speak somewhere more... Private."

He ran one of his fingers up her bare arm and walked off briskly, still laughing at the look he had seen on the slight girl's face. Too slight, he almost thought. She was very thin. But no matter. The smaller they were, the weaker they were. The easier they were to control. He headed out the school doors and off the grounds, prepared for a meeting at the arcade. Or, behind the arcade, actually. He'd have to somehow get her back there.

* * *

He ran faster, his legs pounding against the ground now. He rounded the corner and down the streets, rushing up the steps of his house. Inside, he looked down at his watch, panting. 7 minutes. Amazing. That sort of time, especially considering the distance between his house and the school was absolutely unheard of. He grinned, breath leaving his mouth in a cool rush. He rubbed his arms. The autumn wind was chilly, especially for running that long, that hard.

A grin still on his face, he ascended the stairs to the second floor of the empty house. Opening the door to his room, he entered and closed it shut behind him, leaning against the door. He laughed, remembering what he'd heard on the news that morning, and the rumours throughout school. Someone was saying it had been a drug ring gone awry- one of the popular tenth grades, he thought. It had to be someone popular for the other people in the school to believe it. Not many students still believed they had a serial killer in town, because several had fallen for this story.

Good. He would never be caught. Never.

But really, he thought, pushing off the door and heading to an area of his room not visible from the window, why would an 80 year old woman be involved in a drug ring? People were so stupid. So naive. A malicious smile crossed his face. So naive.

So perfect to pray upon.


	12. Chapter 12

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 12

Vincent sat on the curb in front of the arcade. Rikku slowly approached and wiped tears from her face, trying not to run away. It could ruin her life if she ran. It was either face Vincent and be raped, or be killed. She walked up to him and sat down beside him.

Gippal, who also wanted to waste his allowance, was playing pinball inside, unaware of what was going on. He sighed as he pulled another quarter out of his pocket. He then took out some gum and popped it into his mouth.

"Such a good thing you came," said Vincent, licking a pocketknife. He cut his tounge a little, but he didn't mind, he just wanted to look threatening. Although he didn't actually plan on really hurting her- he certainly wasn't going to kill her. But if she thought so, all the better. She would just cooperate easier.

"Come. This way," he told her leading her behind the arcade. She followed slowly, obviously frightened.

"What do you want from me?" she whispered quietly when they were out of sight of all other people around.

"Oh, not much," he said. "Something."

"What?"

"I want you, miss Rikku... And note, if you don't give me what I want, I will kill you." A lie, but she believed it. "I want you... To be my girlfriend."

"But, I already am involved wi-"

"Gippal, I know. But how fun is it when you love someone and no one knows it? When you go out with me, I'll tell the world!" he laughed, raising his hands.

"No, you can't!" she cried, pushing herself away from him. He ran over and grabbed her by the shirt, trying to rip it off. As she struggled, he pulled her into a kiss.

'This must be the part of rape!' she cried in her thoughts, kicking him in the man jewels. She started to scream and was then pushed to the ground.

Gippal, who was just about to leave, heard the desperate cries and ran straight towards where they were coming from. Vincent heard the pounding footsteps of Gippal and covered Rikku's mouth, pulling her down into the shadows behind a dumpster. When Gippal entered the alley, he could see nothing nor could he hear anything. After searching the place a bit, he finally gave up and left, not knowing that Rikku was there the whole time.

"Now, Rikku," Vincent said menacingly. "Go out with me, or I really will kill you. If you try to get help from Gippal there, I swear it to God, I will kill him, too. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Tears running their tracks along her face, Rikku shook her head. "No."

* * *

Ryo's girlfriend, Jerika, was thought by an awful lot of people to be amazingly gorgeous, especially Ryo. The girl's blonde hair fell just below her shoulders in light waves. Like Jewel's. Her eyes were a deep green that could almost be mistaken for brown. Like Jewel's. Her name, in fact, started with a 'J' as well! Ryo absolutely adored her. 

Sora hated her.

It wasn't a matter of Sora being a jealous twin who didn't want Ryo around other people or anything like that. But it wasn't actually a matter where he had a basis for not liking her. He just didn't.

At the same time that Rikku was behind an arcade with Vincent, Sora was sitting across from Ryo at the food court of the shopping mall. Sitting, pretending to be in a good mood- and secretly hating Jerika, who currently had her arms wrapped around Ryo's neck as the two sweet-talked. Sora turned away from the sight and found himself looking at Namine, his 'stalker.' It was true, Sora thought, almost. She really did follow him quite a bit. But this only made him think of the red-headed girl whose name he was yet to find out.

"Sora!"

Sora turned to Ryo, his voice ringing in his ears. Jerika, Ryo and Namine all began to laugh. "Are you with us?" Jerika joked.

"Hm. Sure, why not?" he mumbled, trying not to vomit. Jerika shrugged and started to play kissy face with Ryo.

"So, Sora, why the long face?" asked Namine, trying to hold his hand. Sora kept glaring at his twin, not even knowing that Namine was there. She kept holding his hand, and was quite surprised to see him not react. So, she tried to kiss him. Her lips was just about to touch his when he finally snapped to.

"Namine!" he yelled in disgust, trying to pry her hand off of his.

"Oh, Jerika, you are so hot!" drooled Ryo, kissing her. Jerika giggled and rolled her eyes to look at Sora. She had a certain taste for him. Recently he'd given off a more bad boy appeal, unlike his twin, Ryo. She also thought he had a thing for her, too. The way he looked at her and never stopped.

"Ryo, stop. I have something to tell you," she started. Her plan was to make Sora jealous and ask her out. "I love you."

They began kissing again. Sora wrinkled his face in disgust. He noticed the way Jerika was looking at him from the corner of her eye and tore his gaze away. Oh, no, he thought. She is _supposed _to like Ryo.

Sora bit his lip and smiled at Namine who was giving him an odd look. "What's going on with you?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "I don't know, but, umm... I have to go. Tell Ryo, if he ever gets off her, that I won't- note that, won't- be home. Kay? Thanks, Namine."

Sora jumped up from his seat and walked off. Ryo, unsurprisingly, didn't notice. Sora sighed and left the mall, heading in the direction of the beach, even though it was autumn. He could remember when Jerika and Ryo had first started dating-

Jerika's boyfriend at the time, whose name was Mick, had heard a rumour that she was cheating on him and so had cut off the relationship. He'd basically told her that she was a whore, except using nice words. He'd said something along the lines of, "Jerika, you're a nice girl and all... But I am a nice boy. Too nice of a boy, in fact, to force you to do something you don't want to. Even if it is staying with one boy- that one boy being me."

Ryo had, of course, immediately taken advantage of her 'broken heart' and probably seduced her, Sora figured. She was such a bitch. He was only dating her because she looked like Jewel! He couldn't honestly like her. It just wasn't possible. Sora sighed and kicked a rock into the ocean, watching the water ripple afterwards.

* * *

Rikku sat alone in her room with black PJs on. Tears ran down her face like a river, her silent crys being smothered by a pillow. Brother knocked on the door and went on in. 

"You know, Rikku, wait- are you crying?" he asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"Uh, no, I'm fine." she told him, pushing him out the door. She then walked over and picked up her phone. As she dialed in the numbers for Gippal's home, she remembered the words of her new boyfriend.

'Go out with me, or I really will kill you. If you try to get help from Gippal there, I swear it to God, I will kill him, too. You wouldn't want that, would you?'

"I can't tell him. I just love him too much." she sighed, trying not to vomit. But then, she remembered her father giving her alot of supper. A whole salad! She then ran to her bathroom, well, you know the rest.


	13. Chapter 13

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 13

Rikku sighed as she trudged down the street towards Vincent's house. Everyone in school had been shocked when they'd heard that Rikku was going out with him. Especially Gippal. Rikku could remember him giving her totally confused looks when they passed in the hall that first day. Everyone had, though she'd really only noticed it from him. Rikku sighed. It had been about four weeks since she'd started dating Vincent.

There had been 3 more murders.

Rikku pulled her coat tighter around her. It was the middle of the day, and the murders always occured during the night, but she was still frightened. She was heading to Vincent's so they could get ready for a Hallowe'en party later that night. which meant that they would be out during dark. But then, even if he was a jerk, Rikku would be with Vincent the whole time. She would be fine, she assured herself. But she picked up her pace.

* * *

Sora sighed as he walked along the beach, lost in his thoughts. It was one of his favourite places to go, despite the chilly autumn weather. A good place to reflect on what had been happening lately. And lots had been happening. Most of them to do with Ryo's whoreface of a girlfriend. She was getting really... suggestive at times when she didn't think anyone else was looking. And then there was... Well. The no-name girl. Sora looked up as he heard sound like rocks tumbling over one another. About twenty feet ahead of him was a steep hill sloping downwards. At the bottom, a large rock pile made an ascent upwards along the side of another hill, making a sort of valley. Climbing up that rock pile was a certain red-haired girl whom just happened to be in his thoughts at the moment.

Suddenly, the girl stumbled, sending rocks falling below her. She tripped and fell onto the rocks beneath her. One cut into her leg, and blood began to slide down it. Gasping in pain, she pulled her leg off the rock and sat gingerly on one next to her. Tears ran down the side of her face and she tried to wipe the dirt off her cut. Sora felt his chest tightening. He'd never been attracted to this girl before, just interested, but this somehow changed things. Watching as tears dripped onto the rocks, something stirred like a wind within him. Sora rushed forward, tripping and stumbling over the rocks himself. By the time he got to the girl his legs were more cut and torn than hers, not that he cared really.

She looked up at him confused as he stooped down in front of her. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

The words left his mouth in a rush and for a moment she didn't seem to understand. "Why do you care?" she asked.

"Because," Sora said. He didn't continue after that. He wasn't sure how to word it. Then it hit him that it was absolutely ridiculous to say that he couldn't word it properly. It was one of the easiest things in the world to put into words. "Because I love you. Because you... because if you were hurt, then I would be hurt and because you're so important to me even though I don't really know you, which must sound really odd, I know, but it's true and I really don't want to see you crying because it really isn't fun to have to watch someone as pretty as you cry and I just..." He stopped, having run out of breath and realized that this was his longest run-on sentence ever, which was odd because he was a grammar freak. "I love you."

The girl looked at him with wide eyes for a moment, clearly confused. Slowly but suredly, a smile began to inch across her face, until she was actually giggling at him. Leaning over, she kissed his cheek.

"My name's Kairi."

* * *

Sora sighed and took another glass of (spiked) punch. He knew it was spiked and he knew that Cloud would murder him for drinking it, but he really just didn't care. He'd come to the party with Kairi like, what? -an hour ago, maybe? He'd lost track of her not very long after that, and he still hadn't found her. Sora knew that Kairi hadn't wanted to come, what with all the 'popular' people going to be here. Kairi, Sora had quickly figured out within the past four hours since they'd been 'dating', despised most people who were well-liked. She said he was different, though, which was why she was with him. Apparently he wasn't quiet as much of a 'goddamned fucking asshole,' as she so beautifully put it.

Looking around, Sora finally spotted her, sitting on a couch and looking awkwardly out of place. She didn't look any happier than she had when he'd said that he had to go. He had, however, and as he crossed the floor towards her, he really regretted dragging her along. But Cloud had been expecting Sora to go, because that was the only way he could know where Sora was at all times. Even Yuna had been made to go, since their parents weren't home and Cloud didn't want anyone alone. He'd been pretty uptight since the cops had admitted there was a random serial killer on the loose. Sora smiled when Kairi looked up and saw him. She stood up and met him in the middle of the room.

"I wanna go."

Sora shrugged. "Kay. Let's get out of here."

Kairi sighed in relief and the two pushed their way through the crowd until they were out he front door.

"Where to now?" Sora asked Kairi. He really didn't care.

"Hmm. My house," she answered after thinking some.

"Your house?" Sora exclaimed in surprise. Why there?

Kairi seemed to understand his confusion. "My dad's not home... My mom is gone with him, too. They won't be back for a few days. And my brother is at the party."

Sora nodded. "Oh. Kay. Whatever then."

Kairi suddenly jumped at a sound coming from some bushes next to them. Probably scared of the murderer, Sora realized. He wrapped his arm around her and she relaxed, seeming to forget about any bumps waiting for them in the night. Sighing, Sora watched with amusement as his breath turned into little ice crystals when it met the cold, marking a white spot on the black air around them.

* * *

Rikku gasped and lurched forward a few steps, unable to really stand up. She was so drunk. It wasn't even funny. she had no idea where Vincent was, not that it mattered so much. If she really wanted to, she could find one of Vincent's friends, inform them she was going home, and leave. But she didn't want to. Not alone. Not at night. Not with a killer on the loose. Alone at night. It made total sense. And she was not taking stupid chances. Looking around wildly, Rikku made her way over to the staircase. While it was true that people who were 'getting down' (and many other interesting things) were the ones who went up there, it was probably a lot more quiet and that was what she needed, especially considering the headache she had.

Rikku stumbled as she climbed up the steps, falling over several times. When she reached the top she nearly fell on her face, but was held up by a strong arm. Glancing up, Rikku found herself looking at one bright green eye, and one dark eyepatch.

"Gippal!" she said with a shriek. "Hey!"

* * *

Cloud blinked and stumbled down the hallway. His parents were still out on a business trip. Which was good, because they would murder him if they saw him with a hangover or drunk. And he was kinda sorta both. He walked- actually, fell down the stairs and ambled into the kitchen. He took some medication and then sat down in one of the chairs. First thing's first, he thought. Did I possibly get anyone pregnant? After careful deliberation, he decided that the answer was no. He couldn't remember anything that might result in a child. Great. So, as long as none of his siblings had gotten pregnant, or impregnated someone else, they were fine. Their parents would never even know they had gone to the party.

Oh, God. Cloud jumped up, knocking over the chair he was sitting in. Siblings! Where was Sora? He knew something had been missing last night! And- what do you know?- it had been his brother. He rushed around the house looking, but Sora wasn't anywhere to be found. Panicked and afraid, Cloud called Wakka, who had been hosting the party the night before. (Wakka's parents were virtually never home.)

"Hello?" Wakka sounded groggy, tired, and drunk. He probably was. Cloud didn;t really care, though.

"Wakka! Sora's not at your place still by any chance?"

"Nope."

Wakka hung up. Cloud stared at the receiver in disblelief. He thought of the murders. If he was lucky, maybe his parents wouldn't murder him.

* * *

Sora groaned and rolled over. His vision was a bit fuzzy, probably from the spiked punch he'd had the night before. He sat up and looked around. For some reason, the pale pink splashed on the walls did not look like the colour he was quite sure his room was painted. He looked around some more and finally figured out what was going on. He was lying in bed next to a quite naked Kairi. "Oh," he said aloud, making the girl stir. Sora couldn't help but smile.

She was so cute.

* * *

"Muahaha!" laughed Shuyin, looking in the mirror hanging from his bathroom. It was only so obvious he was very drunk. Tidus walked in and paused, only to watch as his brother continued.

"Uh, Shuyin?" Tidus questioned, startling his twin.

"What?" blinked Shuyin, trying not to smile. Tidus brushed back his hair, and put his hands into his pockets.

"So that's why you have such an awesome evil laugh! You have been practicing!"

"I know, three hours a day!" smiled Shuyin.

"It shows, like, really good!"

"I sure hope so!" Shuyin said, pulling out his tooth brush and brushing in a circular motion. Tidus just shrugged and left, only to go back up into his room. He didn't really like the party, and had just a little hangover. He wanted to show Yuna how good of person he was, although, it was hard, seeing how she was REALLY drunk. He picked up the phone and called her, only to see how she was doing.

"I like eggs!" yelled Yuna, picking up the phone and dropping it back down onto is reciever. Tidus sighed as the dialtone rung in his ears. He should probably go see if she was all right, being as drunk as she was. He pulled on his jacket and walked past the bathroom, laughing as Shuyin flirted with the mirror.

"You are one handsome dude, Shuyin!" said Tidus' twin, kissing the mirror.

Tidus picked up his scooter that he earned with his remarkable good grade on his English test and zoomed away in the direction of Yuna's house. When he got there, he gasped as the whole house was covered in toilet paper and egg yolk. She really shouldn't have gone to that party. But then, he supposed it was better than leaving her home alone with a murderer on the loose. Her parent's were clearly not home, and that just left crazy, drunk Yuna to hurt herself.

* * *

Rikku rolled over and cuddled her pillow against her. She didn't actually realize that it was not really her pillow for the next seven minutes. When she did realize, she jumped up and screeched very loudly, pulling up the blankets to cover her naked body. Her shout woke Gippal up, too.

"Wha-? Oh, hey, Rikku..." he drawled, clearly still suffering some of the effects of drunkenness. "What's goin...a on?"

Okay. Maybe most of the effects of drunkenness. Or all.

Rikku looked around. They must be at Gippal's house. She got out of the bed and put her clothes on. Gippal watched, confused. "What ar..."

He didn't finish his sentece- he'd passed out before getting the chance. Rikku sighed and opened the door, looking up and down the quiet hall before venturing into it. She crept through the house and finally out the door, where she began to run down the street in the direction of her home. She didn't make it there before running into her 'boyfriend,' though.

"Well, well, well," he sneered. "Where have you been, Rikku?"


	14. Chapter 14

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 14

Gippal hit the floor with a thud! He sat up groggily and looked around his room. Wait. Was this his room? He looked about again. Yeah. This was his room. Gippal shakily rose to his feet. He had a hangover.

In his kitchen, he got himself some strong coffee to help his headache. He was trying to remember what happened the night of the party and then recounted meeting up with Rikku, "Oh yeah, now I remember," he grinned.

* * *

Yuna was so drunk. It was almost funny. But it wasn't really. Tidus finally got her calmed down and sitting on the couch, then he tried to get her to explain some things.

"Cloud?" Yuna said loudly. "I don't know Ryo is upstairs, asleep...andun... Cloud...heis...uma... he... is... Oh! He is looking for Sora!"

"Looking for Sora?" Tidus asked, speaking slowly so that she would understand.

"Uh-huh... We haven't seen him since yesterday. And so Cloud went out to look for him..."

Tidus felt panic rising in him. Sora was gone? He remembered the murders.

Then the door burst open, and in stumbled Sora, grinning ear to ear. Sora ambled past them happily, grabbing at the stair railing for support when he almost fell over. He was still smiling.

"Pft... Who's bed did you wake up in this morning?" Tidus scoffed.

"Well..." Sora turned around to look at them, seeming confused. Then he shrugged. "Well, I don't know her name!"

Tidus blinked. Sighing, he leaned over to pick up the phone and dialled Cloud's cell

* * *

Jerika tied up her blue hair in a messy bun. Last night she went from blonde to blue, from cool, to electric. She thought that Ryo liked it, and by the looks of it he did. No one ever dropped a jaw for like he did. She just wished the twin, Sora, would do the same. Her plot was very simple, first, act all innocent, then get the guy.

Jerika sighed. She supposed it was wrong of her to be after Sora when she was... With Ryo. She just... didn't like Ryo anymore. She had once, back when Ryo was the bad-boy of the duo, but now it seemed that he had calmed down, totally reversing rolls with Sora. Now Ryo was the goody two-shoes. And Jerika was simply not into that. Jerika sighed and signed onto messenger, sending a message to Ryo, who was apparently online though she thought it was kind of early for him

TheBetterHalf says: hmm? oh, yeah. i can't sleep. too much of a headache from last night.

FunkyGirlJerika says: Oh... 2 bad, i guess

Beep! -AutumnDynasty has signed in- Jerika let out a squeal of joy and immediately laughed as a message from Namine popped up.

NamieGirl says: SORA IS ON! YAY!

Jerika grinned and opened up a conversation with the brunette.

FunkyGirlJerika says: hey, Sora

AutumnDynasty says: fuck off.

Jerika blinked. Okay, she knew Sora had been crabby lately but really! She opened her convo with Ryo.

FunkyGirlJerika says: whats wit Sora? hes being an ass!

TheBetterHalf says: Um... how so?

FunkyGirlJerika says: He just told me to fuck off and i didnt even do nething!

TheBetterHalf says: Oh, um. okay.

Beep! -CidsGirl has signed on- Jerika grinned.

FunkyGirlJerika says: Whatcha doin' loser?

CidsGirl says: Um. Well, ikasjldfn.

The keyboard seemed to have been mashed by someone's hand, and suddenly Jerika had gotten a message in return.

CidsGirl says: Listen up, you bitch, leave rikku alone or else.

Jerika copied and pasted the message onto her convo with Ryo.

TheBetterHalf says: Must be Vincent on her name... seems in a bad mood doesn't he?

Jerika frowned. Usually, Ryo would insist on getting back at Vincent for her, because... Well, because! He was her boyfriend, that is what boyfriends do! And, a voice inside her said, what girlfriends do is plot to get the twin? Huffing, Jerika brushed the thought off.

* * *

Rikku watched in dismay as Vincent sent a threatening message to Jerika. Rikku had never liked the girl, but she was dating Rikku's cousin! Rikku didn't want to be nasty to her!

"Vincent! That is my cousin's girlfriend!"

"I always thought so. There was this one time I saw "Jerika and Sora" on a tree and wrote, "ugly babies!" under it."

"Jerika and Sora? But it is Ryo she is going out with!"

"Hey, the trees don't lie!"

* * *

Sora blew smoke up to the ceiling of his room. Suddenly there was a knocking on his door. Sitting up straight, Sora looked around. What to do with the cigarette? If anyone saw it...

"Sora, you in there?"

"Yes."

It was Cloud. "Oh. Okay. Whatever then."

Cloud left. Sora rolled his eyes and took another drag of the cigarette. He turned back to his computer screen. He was actually only on to talk with Kairi, but everyone else kept sending him messages! How annoying!

FunkyGirlJerika says: hey, sora!

Sora smirked. He hated Jerika. So much.

AutumnDynasty says: fuck off.

He smiled. She was such a bitch. Another conversation popped up.

TheBetterHalf says: do you have to be so mean to her?

Sora hated Ryo's messenger name. 'TheBetterHalf.' Hmpf. It hadn't been meant as an insult but Sora always took it as a dig at him... Like, "The-better-half...of the split egg." It was a weird thought, but he couldn't help but feel that way.

"Do you have to talk to me through the computer?" Sora shouted. On the other side of the wall, he heard Ryo scoffing.

TheBetterHalf says: yes. i don't want to lose my voice by screaming. do you?

Sora rolled his eyes.

AutumnDynasty says: not really. i guess.

Sora thought for a moment. He supposed that he really should tell Ryo about what Jerika was doing. But Ryo didn't like shouting through the walls and like hell he was telling him over messenger. Sora put out the cigarette. He went to his bathroom and drank a cup of water. Heading out into the hallway, Sora checked to see if Ryo's door was locked. He pushed it open. Ryo looked over at him.

"Hmm? What do you want?"

Sora sat down on Ryo's bed, thinking about how he was going to word this. Finally, he realized that it didn't matter. Ryo should have the brains not to be dating her in the first place, so why should Sora be careful about his feelings!

"Break up with her."

"What?"

"Break up with her," Sora repeated.

"What! Why?"

"Because, that little bitch is getting on my nerves. Do it," insisted Sora

"Do I smell smoke?" asked Ryo, sniffing around.

"Yes, I was cooking and something caught on fire," said Sora rolling his eyes.

"Well, I'm not going to break up with Jerika. I like her a lot! Although, I'm not very fond of her new hair style. It just ruins her-"

"Jewel look? Yes, everyone noticed her looks. Just a few know of your little obsession. It would be a shame for a lot of people to find out. Although, that would be fairly harsh. Hmm, what little secret should I spill if you don't dump her?"

"You can't have me break up with her! I want to do that on my own time!"

"Now or never. Trust me, I have little ways to curse people with someone like her. It's not like she really likes some little pretty boy like you anyways."

"I am not a pretty boy!" screamed Ryo, hiding his manicure. Sora laughed and spun Ryo's chair so it faced a mirror.

"Look at that pretty boy hair!"

"So I take care of myself! At least I'm not a grease-monkey!" Ryo cried, picking up a piece of paper and rubbing it on Sora's hair.

"Come on, Ryo. It's only so obvious that's only gel!"

"Doesn't mean anything."

"What's this? A manicure?" asked Sora, pulling out Ryo's hidden hand. Ryo gulped and pulled it away. Sora took Ryo's other hand in his. This was not working. He would obviously have to do it some other way.

"Ryo," he said. "Jerika is a whore. I hate her. You don't realize it, but _you_ hate her. And if you don't... Well, then you should! She's a slut. Break up with her." Sora's face hardened. "Now."

Ryo searched his twin's face. "Okay, I get that you want me to break up with her, I get that. But, Sora... What's with you? The black-mailing, threatening... Why?"

Sora sighed. "For you. Ryo. She's... Because. You are my twin, and I care about you and I want what is best for you. That is not her. Besides, she's a slut. Do it."

Ryo stared at Sora in disbelief. Finally, he nodded. "Okay. Fine. I'll break up with her. But... Not now. I want to do it in person."

"Oh, good," Sora said. "But don't think that means you can go easy on her. I wanna be there when you do it." Smile. "I hope she cries."

Sora grinned and got up, leaving his twin's room and closing the door behind him. Good. He hated Jerika. It _was_ true, after all, that it was in Ryo's best interest.

* * *

Rikku drowned her sorrows in a tub of ice-cream. Screw that pansy deal, her emotions were on the line here! Vincent watched as Rikku, (finally), ate. He was always there, and noted her lack of hunger. Even when she did eat, she was constantly making trips to the washroom. But why, Vincent wondered, would she only eat ice-cream. He asked her.

"It's easy to work off," Rikku explained, "And this stuff here-" she gestured to her ice-cream with the spoon- "Is light ice-cream. Not too many calories, you know."

"Oh. Yeah." Vincent nodded in mutual agreement with Rikku. He thought. Girls were pretty confusing. Especially when they were only dating you because you were black-mailing them. Vincent turned back to the computer screen.

A message popped up, telling him that 'AutumnDynasty' has signed on.

"Who's AutumnDynasty?" he asked Rikku.

"Huh? Oh, that's Sora." Another spoonful of ice-cream entered Rikku's mouth.

Vincent sighed. So... bored. He was going to have some fun. Namely by being a jerk to people on Rikku's contact list.

CidsGirl says: so, sora what're you up to?

AutumnDynasty says: fuck off, Vincent

CidsGirl says: Vincent? it's rikku!

AutumnDynasty says: no, it's not. Screw off forever.

AutumnDynasty says: Please.

AutumnDynasty says: ...Thank you.

SexySilver says: True dat!

Vincent blinked madly. When did that guy join their conversation.

AutumnDynasty says: lol, true dat!

SexySilver says: Hey, sora let's go in a chatroom and make fun of people

AutumnDynasty says: sounds good to me!

Vincent stared at the screen for a moment, until finally he was able to word his thoughts.

"Oh my fuck..."

Rikku laughed. "Talkin' to Riku and Sora? They're kinda weird aren't they?"

Vincent looked over at Rikku. talk about mood swings. First she hated him (well, that was only typical) and then she was just weird, and now she was acting like they were old friends. How odd. Vincent shrugged.

"Yeah, they're pretty weird."


	15. Chapter 15

LIFE FROM ALL SIDES  
CHAPTER 15

Gippal sighed as a cold snowflake fell on his cheek as he headed towards the school. It was four days into November, and already it was freezing outside. Or, at least, more freezing than it usually was this time of year. It was always cold, but not always this cold. He looked up as someone brushed past him and was surprised to see Sora there, stomping across the parking lot.

"Woah..." Gippal breathed. "What's with him?"

Everyone, everyone had walked to school this morning because both Sephiroth and Cloud had lost all driving privileges over the weekend. Cloud, because a drunk Yuna had egged their house and he should have been watching her, and Sephiroth because... Gippal wasn't sure why. Soon the rest of Gippal's friends came up behind him and as they walked into the school together, Gippal asked them what was up with Sora.

They all shrugged, and then Cloud, Sephiroth and Leon caught up. Gippal asked Cloud, who simply shrugged. "I dunno. He and Ryo have both been acting weird since a few days ago..."

Cloud just shrugged again and the group continued into the school, where they caught up with Sora who was watching a scene unfold in the hallway. Everyone else in the hall was watching, too, and it wasn't hard to tell why. The two people standing there, fighting, were loud enough! Well, actually, not fighting. Really it was just a blue-haired Jerika screaming at Ryo, who didn't seem to care what she was saying.

"And now you're just... breaking up with me!" Jerika demanded angrily.

Ryo shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's just... You know." Another shrug. "I guess _I'm_ too nice of a boy to make a girl like _you_ stay." The once silent hall broke out in whispers as Ryo calmly walked off, and Jerika stood there, face paling. Gippal couldn't really blame her, since Ryo had just reopened the wound left by her old boyfriend. And then the bell rang, and any sympathy for the young blue-haired girl was swept away in classes, pop quizzes, and one pair of emerald green eyes that were always intruding Gippal's thoughts.

"Hi, Gippal," said Rikku, sitting behind the one eyed teen. Gippal was slightly shocked she was even talking to him, since she had started following Vincent. Maybe, she finally had decided they were perfect for each other until, "Can you move your head some? I can't see the notes."

"Oh, sorry. Say, what have you been doing lately?" he asked her, trying to srike up some conversation.

"Oh, nothing. You know, just sitting on the computer. I haven't been feeling well lately," she sighed, writing the rest of her current events. Gippal examined her, then realizing how thin she was.When he first talked to her at thestarting of the year, she was skinny enough then, now she was just bones.

"Say, you want to grab something to eat later?" he asked her, hopinghe could put some weight on her skelton.It wasgross how thin she was.

"Oh, no.. Sorry, I have plans. I'll try to fit you in some other time."

"Plans with Vincent, I suppose?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. I do kind of have plans with him. Well, I guess it's time to go to lunch.. Bye Gippal." she said, handing him a note. On the front of it read, "do not read in public." He figured school was some form of public.

* * *

"So, Seph... why were you grounded?" asked Cloud, taking his usual popular teen spot in the lunch room. Sephiroth puffed out his cheeks, giving him an odd look since he was so gaunt.

"Because," he sniffed, "My ridiculous father--"

"Because," Riku said sitting down. "Because he--"

Sephiroth's hand snaked forward and smacked the back of Riku's head. "Because," Sephiroth repeated. "Just because."

And with a sniff he stared down at his lap. Cloud nodded. "Uh-huh."

Gippal came and plopped down at the table, looking rather depressed. "What's wrong wit yooo?" Tidus asked through a mouthfull of... something. Gippal began to answer but Tidus cut him off, shouting, "Woah! Tutouring! Forgot! Bye!"

"How inconsiderate of him," Sephiroth scoffed, looking up from his lap briefly. A grunt behind them at Sephiroth's words and then Sora was sitting where Tidus had been before. Cloud looked away from Sora's face but noticed that everyone else was doing the exact opposite. "Woah, mon..." Wakka said. "Where'd you get that scratch? Must be one big cat, ya!"

Sora only smiled thinly in response to Wakka's question and Cloud grimaced, having a hard time ignoring the way it made the scratches re-open and bleed. It must have been one big cat, though, if it even was a cat. Sora had four diagonal, bright red claw (or nail?) marks running down his left cheek. They were, to say the least, gross.

"Well, beautiful," Gippal moaned. He stood up. "You know I'd like nothing more than to talk about Sora interacting with little birdies and kittens so they can all have an I'm-so-happy fest, but I think that I will, instead, go and mope and be sad. Goodbye."

And with that, Gippal left. How weird, Cloud thought

* * *

Gippal let his shoulders sag as he walked home from school. In a very intelligent manner, he'd lost the note given to him by Rikku, and was now feeling depressed. As the snow fell around him in flurries, he was struck with a thought. He wondered if the pond out behind the forest had frozen. Grinning, Gippal realized how to cheer himself up. He rushed home to get some things.

He was going skating.

* * *

Rikku sat and watched as everyone was skating but her. She got up and went for some coffee. She left her so called "diet" awhile ago, and was feeling rather chilly. Coffee should warm her up.

"One of your strongest coffees please!" she said, smiling. The acne covered teen working there raised his eyebrows in surprise and went into the back. He came out with a small pouch and started to make coffee.

"Here you go... and extra-mumbo-jumbo-ly large coffee." Rikku grabbed it and ran to the table, waiting intently for it to cool down. It took only a matter of seconds, due to the temperature of the arena. As she drank to the very last drop, a one-eyed wonder walked by into the changing room.

"Gippal, what a surprise seeing you here," said Yaibal.

Oh no... Yaibal with a bible... better hurry!

Gippal broke out onto the ice. Since he was a former hockey player, he was rather fast. As he slowed down, (only because he had to try not to hit one of the little children), he noticed a blonde girl sitting in the stands. He glided over to her and stopped, piling snow ontop of Yaibal's head. Yaibal, who started to ramble on how snow was first created by God, stopped to see how he was rather obsessed with Gippal.

"So, Rikku.. why aren't you skating?" asked Gippal. Rikku, with dialated pupils from the huge amounts of caffeine, jumped down and started to ramble on how she couldn't skate. Gippal took her by the hand and led her to the bench. He pulled out a pair of skates his sister gave him.

"How would you know to have the perfect sized girl skates here with you?"

"I have my ways!"

Gippal grinned and watched as Rikku's face lit up when he handed her the skates. Originally, he'd been planning on going skating at the old pond, but it was like, a ten minute walk (lazy Gippal!), so he'd just gone to the arena, which many teens did during the winter. Skating was one of the popular things to do in their community, and everyone was at the arena (Well... Almost.) Yaibal was, but Gippal didn't really care because he hated Yaibal. Looking around, as he helped Rikku onto the ice, he saw that Sora and Ryo were sitting in the higher stands. The large cuts across Sora's cheeks were still there, and they seemed to be the current topic of conversation between the twins. Ryo said something and Sora ran his hands along the scars, shrugging. His mouth moved and Gippal though he saw the words "it's okay..." form on the brunette's lips. He couldn't be sure, though and that would make no sense, besides. Why would Sora say that unless Ryo had put the scratches there? Gippal stopped and thought for a moment. What if they saw him with Rikku?

The ten minute walk to the pond was seeming more inviting. Gippal turned to Rikku and led her off the ice again, her blinking in confusion.

"Let's go skating somewhere else," he said. "Somewhere less... Crowded."

Rikku nodded. "Um, okay. I guess."

The two teens left the arena and walked in silence through the snow. When they came to the forest and turned off, Gippal pushing aside branches, trying to remember what way to go, Rikku finally spoke.

"So... Did you, um, read that note I sent you?"

Gippal hunched his shoulders. "Actually, um, I kinda sorta... Um." Gippal mentally cursed himself. He was beginning to sound like Sora whenever Namine was being suggestive towards him, or at least how he had before he'd started acting so oddly (except that was always funny... this wasn't.) "Well, see, I kind of lost it."

Rikku was quiet behind him. "Oh."

Neither talked again until they reached the pond.

Rikku shrugged off her worries and kept going. She originally planned for her knight in shining armour to save her, for the note said, "VINCENT IS THREATENING ME, SAVE ME!"

"So, you don't know how to skate?" asked Gippal, rubbing his cold hands together to warm them. As Rikku tied up her skates, she noted how perfect they were. Everything seemed right in place! A beautiful day with a light snow coming down onto a icy pond, and her main man Gippal, standing right beside her.

Rikku gently stepped onto the rink and fell into a bank that was piled up. She blushed faintly and got back up. Gippal noticed her struggle and helped her. "Here, give me your hand."

"You promise you won't let go?" asked Rikku, smiling softly.

"I promise," he whispered, holding firmly, but gently, onto her hand.


	16. Chapter 16

a shitty ending for a shitty story. please, enjoy.

Chapter 16

Rikku remembered skating with Gippal. It had been so much fun. Now, she was being led by Vincent down a dark, quiet road at night, their footsteps sounding alone aside from their echoes.

"Vincent, I don't want to go to this... party, okay? I'm scared."

"Shut up, since when do you have a choice?"

Rikku found herself shoved against a wall at the entrance of an alley, with Vincent's face an inch from hers.

"Listen you dumb slut, I call the shots here. I know about your little stunt with Gippal. You're lucky I didn't beat you into oblivion for that."

Rikku whimpered as Vincent pressed his body up against hers.

"Maybe you can pay me back right now," he muttered.

Then there was a muffled thump, and Vincent stumbled backward.

He was yanked into the alley, and by the time Rikku caught her breath and felt her heart calm, she looked in to see no one there. She could hear horrible noises from around the corner, and wanted to do something, but couldn't.

Instead Rikku stumbled to the nearest payphone and began dialing 911. But then this plan seemed very silly and she knew she should get to safety. So Rikku ran. And ran. And somehow she stopped at Gippal's doorstep.

* * *

There were endless interviews with police, who seemed frustrated that Rikku– their only witness– had seen nothing.

Vincent was dead, and Rikku couldn't bring herself to let his parents' last image of him be as a near-rapist, so she said they'd been making out against the wall when he was hit on the back of the head.

Time passed. And things looked better. And somehow, beautifully, magically, the killings stopped.

* * *

"Hey, Sora?" Ryo asked. He knocked on the door. "Sora? Hello!"

Sora was different since dating this girl– Kairi. She kept him on a bloody tight leash (much to the amusement of everyone else) but when he _did_ finally get some free time, all he wanted to do was nap. Which, all things considered, was at least semi normal for Sora.

Ryo pushed the door to Sora's bedroom open, but he wasn't there. He wandered inside the dark room, wondering if perhaps he was in the shower. But he definitely heard nothing coming from the bathroom.

"Heh, that's weird, I thought he was here."

Ryo turned, and something sticking out of Sora's desk drawer caught his eye. A red band... Ryo picked it up, examining it. He knew he had seen it before. The design on it was familiar, like he'd looked at it many times. He peered closer, and realized it was the headband Vincent had always worn to school. He fingered the threadwork, squinting. Was that splotch of colour part of the design? He couldn't remember. It had been so long since he'd seen Vincent, or pictures of Vincent, though for the month after his death memorials were erected everywhere.

Ryo flicked on the lamp so he could get a closer look. The colour was a dead-looking brown, like dried blood, on the back of the headband. He remembered Rikku saying Vincent had been hit on the back of the head while they kissed.

Ryo's heart hammered. His breath caught in his throat and his memories replayed as if they were a broken record, jumping and skipping, the same images over and over again. Sora with the scratches on his face. Sora coming home late. Sora being gone in the afternoons when they left school.

Ryo swallowed heavily. He replaced the headband in the drawer and shut it gently. Before he left the room he shut out the lights. And he didn't look back.


End file.
